A couple have brought a High Court challenge over the Adoption Authority of Ireland’s refusal to formally recognise or register the adoption of their daughter in a foreign jurisdication.
The court heard the married couple, who cannot be identified due to a court order, lived in a non-EU country more than a decade ago.
They adopted their first child from that country while they were residing in Ireland. That child has obtained Irish citizenship.
However, issues arose over the adoption of their second child.
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The court heard that they moved to the country where they adopted both their children, in order to become habitually resident there.
When in that jurisdiction they effected a local adoption that was recognised in that country.
They moved back to Ireland several years ago, after the adoption took place.
Over the last number of years since their return they have sought to formally register the adoption of their second child with the Adoption Authority of Ireland.
They claim they have provided details to the Adoption Authority of Ireland, which regulates adoptions in Ireland, to show they were habitually resident in the country when the second adoption took place.
While they were registered as their second daughter’s legal guardians some years ago, the couple claims they remain unable to have the adoption formally recognised here.
They claim their efforts to do so have been rejected on grounds including that they did not fulfill certain legal requirements of Irish adoption laws and that they were not habitually resident in the other country when they adopted their second child.
They have also been found not to have intended to permanently settle in the other country at the time of the second adoption.
They claim the refusal to recognise the foreign adoption is flawed.
In refusing the claim the authority incorrectly applied Irish and European law and breached their constitutional family rights and rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.
In their judicial review proceedings against the Adoption Authority of Ireland, Ireland and the Attorney General they seek various orders and declarations, including that they are their child’s legal parents.
They also seek orders quashing the Adoption Authority’s refusal to register the foreign adoption order into the Register of Intercountry Adoptions.
They want the court to order the authority to include the adoption on the Register,
The matter came before Mr Justice Charles Meenan who, while only the plaintiffs were represented in court, gave them permission to bring their challenge.
The matter was adjourned to a date later this year.