Adoption consent

Sandwell MBC v (1) GC (2) HC (3) Mr and Mrs X (4) MMC (by the children’s guardian) 2008 EWHC 2555 (Fam) 24 October; SJ 4 November

Where a child of less than six weeks old is placed for adoption, a two-stage process should be followed whereby the mother signs a written consent in the prescribed form to place the child with respective adopters, and, when the baby is six weeks old, another consent under s19 of the Adoption & Children Act 2002. When Z was four weeks old, her mother and father had signed two forms made in accordance with ss19 and 20 of the Act. The adoption panel had approved the plan for adoption and Z, then aged four months, had been placed with the third respondents. When the third respondents applied to adopt Z it came to light that the parental consents were ineffective under s52(3) of the Act, because they had been obtained before Z was six weeks old. The mother and father had refused to renew their consents and asked for Z to be returned to them.