Final hearing notification

[mimarbia]

I applied for an adoption order the first week of Jan, the court cashed my cheque the same week and I have heard nothing from them until today when I got a letter saying the final hearing is at the end of the month. Does this mean there hasn't been an initial hearing or do they not have to tell me about that one? I'm worried they've made a mistake and it's not the final hearing at all. The whole process is so confusing, can anyone offer any advice please?

[user1471555041]

We had our first hearing this week, no one contested our application and we are now waiting a final hearing date when we hope the order will be granted if nothing is heard from bp. That's my understanding but it is very confusing!

[sweetchilli77]

ours and i perfume yours will be the same was in 3 parts....

In simple terms as ours was

1st part the judge reads and goes through everything.Makes sure all the boxes are ticked and paper work in order
2nd is when it gets read in court and a date is set for a final hearing (if no one contests) the 3rd date is the final hearing where the adoption order is granted.

You will NOT be invited for any of the above only the celebration day

Then you get sent a date for the celebrations date for at least 21 days after that...

[sweetchilli77]

and i presume that was meant to say hahaha

[mimarbia]

Thanks sweetchilli77 but did you get told about the first and second hearings?

[Hels20]

We are in the same position Mima and we have been told an adoption order could be granted at the hearing we have been invited to. With DS1 - we just had a one stage process.
Didn't realise there could be more

[sweetchilli77]

i remember us initially being given 2 dates which i got confused with the 2nd date being the final hearing.....but its not the case. Once the judge has sorted the two dates they will set another date for the FINAL hearing where the adoption order (depending all goes smoothly) gets granted.

[mimarbia]

It's bloomin complicated isn't it? Thank you for your replies and good luck Hels20

[tldr]

We only knew about two dates, one was the day the AO was granted, other was about celebration day. No idea what happened ahead of those. (And oddly it didn't cross my mind to question.)

[Pebbles17]

I am really confused now, we have a hearing in March, on the court papers it says on this date the court will consider :

1. Any applications
   
2. Making further directions
   
3. making the final order
   
   So it is all lumped into one ?

[flapjackfairy]

I think that the final order can be granted at the hearing if all the paperwork is in and correct and nobody has notified the court that they wish to object or turns up at the hearing to ask for leave to appeal in person.
If they do then it normally becomes a directions hearing as the judge will set another date to give the person wanting to object time to compile any evidence they want to present. At the next hearing the judge will hear that evidence and decide whether the person has any grounds to be allowed to appeal or not. If they do a further hearing will be granted to hear the full appeal. If not the judge may then dismiss it and grant ao.
Even if the person objecting is given leave to appeal it is normally just an opportunity to let them put their evidence and have their say before judge dismisses it and grants ao at that point.
That is why there can be several hearings before the ao is actually granted.
There is then a 21 day period when the objector can ask for leave to appeal the actual granting of the order which is why there is a delay before the celebration hearing.
The good news is that the whole process is designed to prevent any birth parents going back to court later on and saying they werent given an opportunity to appeal and these various hearings are just formalities along the road to getting ao though it is stressful at the time.
God bless the british legal system !

[Pebbles17]

Thank you, kind of makes sense now

[flapjackfairy]

It is v confusing but i did loads of research on it as i expected bp to contest to the hilt as they went to the high court to try and overturn placement order. As it happens the la sent full legal team to first hearing which was expected to be a directions hearing but parents never turned up and ao granted in under 5 mins so you just never know !