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adoption without a fathers consent

  • 12-12-2010 3:52am
    #1
    aqueous
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4 ✭


    Hi
    Here's the predicament. My sister is getting married next year and she has 2 boys from a previous relationship. The father of the 2 boys has left the country and there has been no contact for the last 7 years. Can her fiance adopt the 2 kids when they are married. The father's name is on one of the birth certs but not on the other. Can anyone offer some advice on this please. She doesnt know his exact whereabouts or have any contact details.


Comments

  • #2
    Cavehill Red
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,109 ✭✭✭Cavehill Red


    Read this:
    http://www.aai.gov.ie/index.php/domestic-adoption/step-parent-adoption.html

    In short, your sister should make all possible efforts to contact and inform the natural father of her intentions. If she fails to do so, or refuses to name him, the High Court is likely to refuse any adoption application.
    It's worth noting that any such adoption is entirely impossible if the children were born within a marriage.


  • #3
    aqueous
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4 ✭aqueous


    Cavehill Red wrote: »
    Read this:
    http://www.aai.gov.ie/index.php/domestic-adoption/step-parent-adoption.html

    In short, your sister should make all possible efforts to contact and inform the natural father of her intentions. If she fails to do so, or refuses to name him, the High Court is likely to refuse any adoption application.
    It's worth noting that any such adoption is entirely impossible if the children were born within a marriage.

    thanks for the reply... The children were not born within a marriage. She has tried to contact the father but has had no luck in locating him. Is there some kind of "abandonement" law..
    As far as i am aware my sister has sole guardianship of the children.
    Am i right in saying that my sister has to give up guardianship, and adopt the child with her fiance. ie both adopt the children together.


  • #4
    Cavehill Red
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,109 ✭✭✭Cavehill Red


    aqueous wrote: »
    thanks for the reply... The children were not born within a marriage. She has tried to contact the father but has had no luck in locating him. Is there some kind of "abandonement" law..
    As far as i am aware my sister has sole guardianship of the children.
    Am i right in saying that my sister has to give up guardianship, and adopt the child with her fiance. ie both adopt the children together.

    There is no such thing as abandonment in this context. I suggest you have a good read of the 2010 Adoption Act.
    Your sister will have to contact the father and inform him of her intentions, thereby allowing him the opportunity to consent or refuse.
    Surely it is possible that she can contact family of his and reach him that way?
    The High Court will be very wary of permitting children to be adopted away from living natural parents, even those who have not had meaningful interaction with their children in recent times, without at the very least granting the absent parent the opportunity to be informed in advance.
    This is in order to protect fathers who have had their children moved away by the mothers so that they could not be in contact with them.


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