The High Court has authorised the adoption of 13-year-old twins by the foster carers who have raised them since they were approximately seven weeks old, despite the objection of their birth father.
P and Q were born prematurely in July 2012 and were placed with Y and Z following an Emergency Care Order that September. They have remained with them for more than 13 years. A Full Care Order was made in 2016.
Their birth mother, A, consented to the adoption and told the court she was grateful for the care the children had received. Their birth father, B, opposed it. He argued that the Child and Family Agency had failed to adequately support family reunification and had not properly respected his parental rights.
B accepted that the twins should remain living with Y and Z but wanted that arrangement to continue as foster care. He was concerned that adoption would permanently close the possibility of rebuilding a relationship with them later.
Ms Justice Nuala Jackson found that B had not had contact with the children since 2017 and had never exercised a decision-making role concerning their education, welfare or day-to-day upbringing. She found that the statutory tests concerning failure of parental duty, abandonment of parental rights and the necessity for State intervention had been satisfied.
The judge also held that adoption was proportionate. The twins had known no other parental home and had developed a lifelong family relationship with Y and Z.
Both children independently expressed a clear wish to be adopted. They understood the distinction between foster care and adoption and wanted their place in Y and Z’s family formally recognised and to leave the care system.
The court stressed that B would always remain an important part of the twins’ life story and did not doubt his love for them. However, their best interests were the paramount consideration.
The Adoption Authority was therefore authorised to make the adoption orders, with B’s consent and any other required consent dispensed with.