Natural Father Denied Right to Oppose Adoption

A recent case dealt with the issues surrounding the respective rights of a parent and child in unusual circumstances.

The natural father of the child wished to join in the proceedings to oppose his son being adopted. The unusual feature was that the father had only recently found out that the child was his. Previously, he had mistakenly believed that the boy had been fathered by another man.

The child had been living with the prospective adopters for two years and was both happy and settled. The Court ruled that his best interests would not be served by allowing the natural father to contest the adoption proceedings.

Says Alan Kiddle, “The courts will always give careful consideration to the child’s best interests in such cases. In some instances this may involve decisions which are painful for relatives.”

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