Disputes around relocation are likely to increase further as working parents travel further afield in the course of employment. In this case, the court allowed a parent to relocate with a young child in circumstances where commuting wasn’t a reasonable option. The welfare of the child remains, of course, of paramount importance to any such …

Continue reading “Relocation – child’s welfare”

The courts will not set aside an adoption order unless there are highly exceptional circumstances. Here, the birth mother (A) sought to have adoption orders set aside in respect of 12 and six-year-old siblings (she had previously made several unmeritorious applications in relation to the children). A also applied for contact orders with the children. …

Continue reading “Adoption orders – revocation”

This case illustrates how, in exceptional circumstances, the courts can significantly restrict a parent’s PR to protect a child from harm. This is achieved through the use of prohibited steps orders and specific issue orders under s8(1)CA. F had a history of violence, domestic abuse and coercive behaviour and had already been in prison for …

Continue reading “Children – domestic violence”

The President has provided guidance on public law children cases with an international element. The document replaces ten-year-old guidance entitled The International Child Abduction and Contact Unit (ICACU). The replacement brings the guidance into a modern international era in which a substantial number of cases involve an international element. In these cases, the courts often …

Continue reading “Procedure – public children proceedings”

An LA has been severely criticised by a judge in the course of his ruling refusing a birth mother direct contact with a young girl. Adoption lawyers may be aware of a growing appetite for permitting direct contact post-adoption – but the judge in this case refused it for several reasons. A birth parent can …

Continue reading “Adoption – post-adoption contact”