Family Law - Adoption

Freeing a Child for Adoption

This is the free unconditional agreement of the parent or guardian of a child to that child's adoption.

Once given it is final.

In the case of a mother who has just given birth her consent will not be valid if given in the first six weeks of the birth.

The consent of a parent or guardian may not be necessary if:

1. The parent or guardian cannot not be found or they are incapable of giving their agreement, e.g. because they are mentally ill.

2. The parent or guardian is withholding their consent unreasonably.
When deciding on whether the withholding of consent is unreasonable the court will consider the interests of the child, the parent and the adopting family and try to balance them.

If the parent has not seen the child for a long time and the child has already been living with the adoptive parents for a long time it may be easier to argue that the parent / guardian's refusal to consent to the adoption is "unreasonable".

3. The parent or guardian keeps failing without any good reason to carry out their parental responsibility for the child, this includes showing affection, care and interest towards the child and also maintaining the child financially or protecting the child etc.

4. The parent or guardian has abandoned or neglected the child. Abandoning or neglect would be in the criminal sense, rather than just rejecting a child emotionally.

5. The parent or guardian keeps ill-treating the child.

6. The parent or guardian has seriously ill-treated the child.