my ex is going to contest the adoption order

[OurMiracle1106]

He emailed me and asked for my backing to do so. Saying he would let me see our son if he was with him blah blah blah. I declined. Said that this is what's in our child's best interests. He couldn't be bothered with contact. Not even when in local authority care. (so can't claim it was to do with me)

I'm now worried that the process is going to be dragged out because of him being selfish. He is (or was until at least this time last year cos he was on it at court) a cocaine and alcohol dependent. He stabbed me on front of our child. Strangled me multiple times (til I lost consciousness) and yes wrong as it was I stayed til he was visibly frightened of his own father.

Please tell me he has no chance of actually being successful in contesting?

I'm scared he will manage to get our son. And honestly I would rather my son be the other side of the world and me never hear or see him again than this happen. He thinks his mum (who sexually abused him) is suitable to look after him and would happily leave him in his brothers care (who done a long period of time for raping a not even teenage girl)

Please please tell me he won't get my son

Shit that was supposed to strike through grrr

I don't want to confuse the issue but I disagree with you Lilka - once the Placement Order has been made and the child is already placed with the prospective adopters the birthfather has no right to request a hearing to contest the proposed adoption. The time for contesting any order would be prior to the final hearing, where a Care Order and a Placement Order can be made at the same time. The Judge can dispense with parental consent if it is in the best interests of the child. I don't know whether the birthfather did contest at any stage in the proceedings?

IF there is a Placement Order made and the child has not been placed with adoptive parents, then the bps have the right to request a hearing to contest the adoption, but they must get leave of the court to do this and a Judge would have to be satisfied that the bp's circumstances had changed drastically since the making of the Placement Order.

You say it was better when you adopted under a Freeing Order as there were no rights to contest anything, but there were rights for bps to contest a Freeing Order if the child had not been placed within 12 months of the Order being made.

There was another anomaly with Freeing Orders, because when such an Order was made, the Care Order that had previously been in place was revoked and if the child/ren were not subsequently placed for adoption the PR remained with the LA as LAC. There was concern about such children as they were in a legal "limbo" as the care plan for adoption had been unsuccessful and the matter did not have to return to court. There was a High Court Judgement made about 2 boys who had been made the subject of Freeing Orders and not been placed and were now teenagers and the care plan had not been changed, which meant that the boys were in the care of the LA who held the PR. The IRO was criticised for not picking up the matter and ensuring the care plan was changed.

The Placement Order that was brought into force with the Adoption Act 2002 did away with this anomaly. The Care Order that is made before a Placement Order is not revoked as in Freeing Orders, but is suspended and if the adoption does not go ahead then the legal status of the child is that he/she is subject to a Care Order under S31 of the Children Act 1989.

I don't think you need worry at all Miracle because I think your ex is blowing a lot of hot air. When a Placement Order has been made the Adopters go to Court and see a Judge in Chambers (a small room and the Judge isn't wearing a wig) and it is a "rubber stamping job" really as all the issues have been dealt with prior to the making of the Placement Order. It is a short process and some Judges have sweets or a small toy for the adoptee and the children of the adopters if there are any, and the Adoption Order is made. Photographs are usually taken on the steps of the court and a small celebration later.

I haven't got anything useful to add except I think you are being so selfless

What families said

In theory he can contest the adoption order but just from what youve said on here i couldnt imagine him getting very far.

If the adopters are putting in their application he will be notified and given a court date - many birth parents dont attend court and the order is granted.

If he does attend and say he wants to contest it the judge normally says go away, see a solicitor and write a statement about why i should allow you to contest the order.
Even if he did that from what you have said the judge will probably not allow it to even be contested as they will have the information about him within the social workers report etc.

If you are agreeing with the order that will hold a lot of weight in court too

once the Placement Order has been made and the child is already placed with the prospective adopters the birthfather has no right to request a hearing to contest the proposed adoption

Actually, birth parents last opportunity to fight an adoption (which isn't so much of an opportunity since I've never heard of a case succeeding) is when adoptive parents apply for the adoption order, they can ask the judge for permission to contest the making of an adoption order, and if permission is granted, you move to a full hearing. Legally, they could potentially succeed in both preventing an adoption going through, and having the PO itself overturned. Not that anyone ever has succeeded as far as I know in overturning the PO at this stage.

It was better for adoptive parents under the freeing order system, I think, purely because we didn't have to worry about contesting AFTER the child was placed for adoption. Once our child was placed with us, the birth parents had no more opportunities to contest. Whereas now, we have that worry, even if we know nothing will come of it, it's not nice to bond with your child, go through months of nurture and parenting, apply for the adoption order, and then find the birth parents asking permission to contest it.

BUT as I said, there are of course many very good reasons why that system was changed, even though there are also IMHO some clear downsides.

Getting on a tangent now, but I agree with Families as well, Miracle

And Miracle I do agree with floaty many people like your ex will say they are going to contest, but then they don't turn up to the court hearing. If they don't turn up, the judge will grant the adoption order. So it may be that your ex does the same

NanaNina, I'm sorry but what you've said is not accurate.
I made the application to the court to formally adopt my daughter and, at that point, her birth parents were written to, and had the right to contest the adoption. One of them indeed did state that their circumstances had changed, and that they wanted to put a stop to the adoption and have her placed with them, but the judge felt that there was not enough evidence of sustained change to warrant further assessment of their capacity to parent.

Maybe things have changed since you retired.

To Miracle:

It is very, very unusual for am adoption order not to be granted at that very final stage. He would need to be able to strongly evidence positive and sustained changes that would enable him to be a fully functional parent, and it is so, so unlikely from what you have said that this would ever be the case.

I am so sorry that this situation continues to bring you increased pain and anguish.

Your son is fortunate to have been born to you, and I hope and pray that, in years to come, he comes to know how much you love and are looking out for his best interests even from afar.

Lilka I don't really follow your line of argument in your first para - but I entirely agree that at any stage in the care proceedings the bps can contest the making of a Care Order and a Placement Order, but if they are unsuccessful the only recourse left to them is that IF the child has not been placed with prospective adopters they can seek leave of the court to oppose the adoption and it is then for the Judge to decide whether there is a case to be heard or not.

It is incorrect to state that "legally you could potentially prevent the Adoption Order being made and potentially to overturn the PO"

I can't do links as my IT skills are limited but if you care to google "Placement Order" there is one that is written for birthparents and there are some FAQs - one of which is:
"Can I ask the Judge to end the Placement Order"
Answer: If your child is living with the people who want to adopt him, but isn't yet adopted, you cannot ask the Judge to end the Placement Order.

But if the child is not yet placed the leave of the court can be sought to contest the adoption.

You say things were better under the Freeing Order Regs because parents couldn't contest after the child was placed for adoption, but the same is true for Placement Orders once the child is placed with prospective adopter. The whole notion behind these Orders is so that the prospective adoptive parents do not have to have the distress of thinking the bps can overturn a Placement Order. As I said in my earlier post the PO is far better legislation because if the child cannot be found an adoptive home and it is not in their best interests to be returned to bps then their legal status reverts to that of a Care Order, which was not the case with Freeing Orders if adoptive homes could not be found, and these children were in legal limbo.

Happy Sunflower Can I ask if there was a Placement Order in respect of your child and I am assuming there was. Maybe it is at the discretion of the Judge whether to hear from bps in the situation you describe, although of course they are meant to apply the law. I am only quoting what I believe to be the law.

I saw a TV programme last week when a man whose children had been removed by the LA and were subject to Care Orders, accused the LA of genocide and actually turned up at the court to see the Judge to present his arguments. He was actually seen by a Judge in a locked room and was given short shrift.

Anyway I don't intend to continue this debate as I don't think it's helpful to the OP who I am sure has heard enough!

Sorry I'll be brief - the site I mention is the Family Rights Group and is headed "What does a Placement Order Mean for me" and then there are FAQs. which will clarify that what I say is correct.

NanaNina, it might be worth you reading Page 5 of this link
www.childrenslegalcentre.com/userfiles/Adoption.pdf

Birth parents have the right and opportunity to contest/oppose adoption before the final adoption order is granted. They are written to and offered this opportunity after their child has been placed for adoption, and after their adopter/ has/have applied to the court to legally adopt them.
Yes, my daughter was subject to a PO. All children are before they are able to be placed for adoption.

No I don't think this is helpful to Miracle so I'm not going to continue beyond this post

But I am right. The law is written so that a birth parent can contest the making of an adoption order if they are granted permission by the judge. If they are successful at that, they can go on to challenge the PO itself. No one has succeeded at this stage AFAIK, I've seen quite a few denied appeals by the high court though. That's just how it works.

Every few weeks on AUK or here or FF or wherever, there's a new adoptive parent or even a birth parent like our Miracle, who is going through a tough emotional time because of a birth parent asking and (rarely) gaining permission to contest the AO at this late stage. Lots of people on here have been through it, and sadly Miracle may briefly have to also go through this if her ex bothers to turn up at the hearing he will be notified of. But, I repeat, it doesn't succeed, and I know of no adoptive parent who has ever lost their child at this stage. Your son will not lose his parents Miracle

My understanding is you can apply for leave to contest the adoption order? Not to actually contest it and then it is the judges decision to allow or not allow leave to do so? But yes as a birth parent you can. I have made changes which have been sustained however I still don't feel my son would be BETTER off with me.

I don't wish to debate this further either-but, just one final point- ..I am pretty certain that Miracle is referring to the Placement Order here.
We are talking about the final adoption order stage, and, as such, there is a big difference.

Miracle, I do hope that this is all resolved quickly for you.

I meant to say that Miracle is NOT referring to the PO. Sorry, Miracle, and yes, you are quite right.

Yes, you're right Miracle, you do apply for leave to contest. You can't automatically contest it, the judge has to grant permission first.

I truly do not think your ex will ever get permission to contest. If he asks, will he really be able to present enough evidence to show that he should be allowed to contest it? Very doubtful

I am praying he won't be able to. I would probably stand more chance with even his social worker complimenting me on how hard I have worked and how far I have come in the months she has known me and how I have worked with them as much as possible and gone above what is necessary

It is s.47 of the 2002 Act and as many posters say, it has never happened, even where leave was granted. Miracle, all the legal analysis I have seen suggests the only scenario in which this completely unlikely scenario is going to happen is in a situation where the bm perhaps didn't say who bf was and so notice was not served upon him at the placement stage. This didn't happen here.

Obviously nothing is going to make you feel entirely better until you hear that there is no chance your son will go back to him but I hope you can take comfort by some of the things you have read here and in the fact you are quite astonishingly selfless in putting your son's needs first. Shame he can't. I feel very strongly that the judge will see this.

Miracle why don't you give the Family Rights Group a ring tomorrow and I'm certain they will be able to put your mind at rest. It's a Freephone number 0808 801 0366.

Miracle - big hugs to you, you have been through so much.

Like you, at the final hearing, I did not contest, despite being 15 months sober and a world better than before. Because I wanted DD to have stability. I'm sorry this is still being dragged out for you.

It's not going to happen, it's the last attempt of a desparate man to control things he has no control over. And soon, he really will be out of your life forever. Hang in there, this will be over soon and it will make a difference to you as you rebuild things in your life.