A High Court judge has ruled in favour of the adoption of a 13-year-old boy by his aunt against the wishes of his birth mother.
In her judgment, Ms Justice Nuala Jackson said the boy had a “deep-seated and expressed need for family stability” and said his stability has been provided by his aunt’s family, with whom he has lived with since shortly after his birth, “over a considerable period”.
The boy was placed in the care of his birth mother’s sister and her husband, shortly after his birth in 2011, on account of “challenges in life” faced by his birth parents. One of the boy’s siblings was previously adopted by his foster family.
The judge said his foster family had said they had been his “de-facto family for all his life” and that granting adoption would provide the boy with “security and certainty”.
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The foster family’s adoption application was supported by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, and the Adoption Authority of Ireland.
In a sworn statement to the court, the mother said she did not believe adoption was necessary. “He receives the love, care and attention he requires. I am incredibly grateful for the care he has received. But the level of care he will receive will not change by the adoption,” she said.
The boy’s father neither consented to nor opposed the application.
Ms Justice Jackson said her conversations with the boy indicated he wished to be adopted. “I think he simply wants stability and predictability and confirmation that his lifetime family unit to date will remain such,” he said.
She said making the adoption order was “proportionate” in the circumstances of the case.
In the proceedings, the birth mother complained of difficulties in getting access to her son. She said she “never received any adequate support from the Child and Family Agency” and said since the Covid-19 pandemic her access became “very sporadic”.
Ms Justice Jackson said there were, through no fault of the Child and Family Agency, “considerable access challenges and shortcomings” in this case before the pandemic.
However, she said it was “all too common” that access arrangements for children in care “were hugely impacted upon during [the pandemic] with consequent detrimental impact upon relationships with birth families”.
“It is important that the damage caused by the pandemic be proactively addressed and that it not be permitted to be an occasion of further disadvantage to families within the care system,” she said.
