The High Court has authorised the Adoption Authority of Ireland to make an adoption order for Master D in favour of his foster carers, Ms H and Mr I, and dispensed with the consent of his mother, Ms A. The order was made under section 54(2) of the Adoption Act 2010, as amended.
In a judgment delivered on 25 May 2022, Mr Justice Max Barrett said the legal tests for the order were satisfied and adoption was in the child’s best interests. The court’s order authorises the Authority to make the adoption order; the judgment does not say that the Authority had already made it.
Master D had lived with Ms H and Mr I since shortly after his birth and had never lived with either birth parent, the judgment said. He had serious withdrawal symptoms after exposure to drugs in the womb and continued to have emotional and behavioural needs. The foster carers had supported his care and assessments, and the court said he was settled with them. The judgment records that he was too young to understand the nature and effect of adoption.
Ms A opposed adoption and was concerned about future contact with Master D and his siblings. She did not seek to resume his care, the judge said, but wanted contact to continue. The foster mother said the carers supported sibling meetings and would consider contact with Ms A, including letters and photographs, and support Master D if he later wished to re-establish contact. The order does not set out a contact arrangement.
The judge considered evidence about the Child and Family Agency’s efforts to support contact and the history of Ms A’s engagement, as well as her difficult circumstances and periods of stability. He found that Ms A had not fulfilled parental duties towards Master D and there was no reasonable prospect that she could care for him without prejudicing his welfare. He concluded that the statutory requirements, including abandonment in the legal sense, were met.
The court also weighed adoption against continued care arrangements, considering the child’s need for stability and the rights and concerns raised by Ms A. It found exceptional circumstances and concluded adoption was a proportionate way to secure his place in the only family life he had known. The judgment notes that Master D’s father consented to adoption.