Court Order

[Approved1988]

Hi. We have just returned back from introductions and our child is settling in nicely.

We have been informed that the BP will most probably contest the adoption order when it goes to court. I would like to know:

How long can it be drawn out for?
How many times do the BP get to appeal the judges decision?
Do we have to apply ourselves or will the local authorities that we dealt with have the responsibility of arranging it.

Sorry for the questions our social worker isn't the best.

Thank you

1. you put your application in after 10 weeks
2. the judge issues directions asking for reports from social workers and giving the BP a deadline to put in an application to contest the order. There was around 3 months between putting our application and our first hearing.
3. ignore the deadline the judge gave the BP, the judge will agree to hear them even they only turn up to do it last minute on the day of the hearing. 4a) BP don't apply to contest or turn up in person. The order is granted and they have 28 days to lodge an appeal (see later) 4b) they turn up and apply to contest so the judge issued directions saying they have around 6 weeks to get their evidence together and find legal representation if they wish and sets a new court date. Our court date was about 2 months after the initial hearing.
4. both the BP and SS present their cases about whether or not leave to contest should be granted. In order for it to granted they have to prove that they have a reasonably chance of succeeding so either SS have to have done something seriously wrong (like misidentify the father which has happened) or they have to have made significant and sustained changes to their lives. This includes showing they understand and accept responsibility for their child being put up for adoption. If the placement order is less than a year old then generally not enough time will have passed to prove they've made sustainable changes. The judge then adjourns for deliberations and sets a time to deliver the verdict. 6a) leave to contest is granted. A date for a full trial of the facts is set but it is highly unlikely that BP will succeed in preventing the order being granted. I think there are maybe 3 cases I found in my research when the judge refused to grant the order. 6B) leave to contest is denied and the judge grants the order. BP then have around 28 days to appeal.

Appealing an order. Firstly, BP has to fill in the correct paperwork (unlike when applying for leave to contest) and secondly it costs quite a bit to put an application in. Secondly, the whole reason that a judge will accept last minute applications to contest is to make it impossible for BP to use the fact that they weren't allowed as grounds for appeal, after all when an adoption order is granted it means that someone's human rights have been breached.

From initially filing the application to our celebration hearing took 8 months.

Hope this helps

Our court order has been granted does anyone know what the ceremony hearing consists of and how many days between the order being granted and ceremony hearing? Thank you

It varies massively . We had almost 4 months between the order and celebration.

There's a recent thread here about the celebration hearing www.mumsnet.com/Talk/adoptions/3804799-celebration-hearing
I think ours was a month or so after the order was granted. I remember organising the date by phone and being given a couple of options based on the judge's limited availability.