How to find adoption case law

[thatsnotmybus]

I'm in an unusual situation and am trying to find similar cases but I'm having no luck on google.

Can anyone help me find any cases where a child was adopted by their foster carer but the foster carer's details weren't disclosed to the birth parents because they knew the foster carer's address and it would have put the children at risk?

A bit puzzled about why there would be case law.

Adopters’ details are not disclosed to birth parents - this would apply whether or not they were foster carers.

I agree I don't think that you would find any case law about that. I don't think social services generally have to/do share much information about the adopters.
If you are looking for adoption case law you could try one of the adoption law blogs or search for yourself on BAILII.org

Thanks for the replies, I've had a look on BAILII.org but only a few cases came up and they were local authorities wanting placement orders and some contested adoptions but I don't know if I was searching in the right place or if I even used the right search terms.

I've spoken to a solicitor who has said that there's no legal requirement for the birth parents to know and the child's social worker, the guardian and IRO all agree. But the adoption agency are really pushing for our names to be disclosed as they believe it would be unethical to lie to the parents (the parents have specifically asked if we are adoption the child).
They know our address so if our names are disclosed then it puts the child at risk.

*adopting the child

so you are the FC

What about the ethics of protecting the child? I don’t see that they need to lie. All they have to say is that the information is confidential. Surely its up to the placing LA anyway.
Sometimes people do need heads banging together

I've said exactly that to them Ted and their response was that telling them it's confidential would raise their suspicions because that's not standard procedure and that during the final hearing they were told that they would be given the adopter's name and a bit of info about them.

They also said that if the parents asked again if we were adopting the child then responding with anything other than 'no' would give it away so they'd have to lie to them.

Do the birth parents know you’ve fostered their child, so have asked for confirmation that you’re the couple now adopting their child? I think it’s a difficult one, ordinarily the birth parents would have basic information about the adoptive parents (eg first names) but if you’ve been fostering and presumably had to facilitate contact etc it’s more complex.

In all honesty if the birth parents suspected the child was placed with you they could just turn up on spec. If the risk is so high, I’d have thought the local authority would look for a more anonymous placement - I’d suggest that if the birth parents think it’s you, and in the absence of any differing information (your child’s been placed with Julie and John from London) they’re always going to think it’s you.

I might be better to really explore the risks the birth parents pose and identify ways to manage that risk because it sounds like they think it’s you anyway, social work lying about it isn’t going to change that.

ordinarily the birth parents would have basic information about the adoptive parents (eg first names)
Is that just in Scotland? I was told by our LA that BCs weren’t given any names or info about adopters.

I don’t know if it’s a Scottish thing, but certainly in all the adoptions I know the birth family have had a bit of information about the adopting family. Usually generic, non-identifying information but they’d get something. For example, our child’s birth parent knows my and my husbands name, our faith (because she had asked that her children be raised in a particular faith). No way enough to identify us but a little bit.

Otherwise their child is removed and they have no way of mentally placing their child - their child literally disappears, which I think does raise ethical issues for the birth mum and her recovery from losing her children.

In the OPs case it sounds like the birth parents have worked it out anyway so better to have a plan in place than think that sw not giving their names will make the birth parents back off.

Thanks for your reply Jelly. It's not that they've worked it out though, they've asked a few times for us to be considered as adopters. After we expressed an interest, the LA put it to the parents as a hypothetical situation to see if their feelings were still the same and they said again that they wanted us to adopt the child.

Was it just your first names and religion that was shared with birth parents? I thought things like occupation, age ranges or rough area you lived in would also be shared.
I've also got conflicting info when it comes to sharing info because a lot of what I've found online as well as the advice from solicitors was that it's not standard procedure and nothing has to be shared, but the adoption agency are telling us that there's no such thing as closed adoptions anymore and that birth parents are always given adoptive parents' info.

As a social worker I would say birth parents are normally given very little information, if any, about adopters unless there is a reason for doing so. In your case where I presume from your posts that the birth parents already know you and where you live, it may now not be possible to have a "closed adoption" as that information is already out there and the option to be anonymous to birth parents doesn't exist. Managing the risks will have to be part of your plan regardless of whether or not you confirm to birth parents that you are the adopters so in these circumstances lying to them may actually increase risk.

It may also be helpful to think of things from the child's point of view and the difficulties in later life of having to explain why you didn't maintain some level of contact with birth parents for them when you already knew each other and knew where each other lived. I would also try to have an open discussion about "open adoption", potentially with adoptive parents who have already done it as this can be less scary than it may seem and can work exceptionally well for some families.

No easy answers sadly but hang in there - it's a tough journey. Big hugs

Sorry I gave those as examples of the type of information they shared, they shared very basic information so the general area we live in, they didn’t share my occupation because that would have made it easier to find me.

What risk are you worried about - if they’ve asked that you can adopt their child it sounds like they’re accepting of adoption and want a good placement for their child. I know there’s a generic fear that birth families might pose a risk but unless there are specific risks (eg they’ve tried to remove their child from placement or harassed foster carers), I’m not sure what you’d be concerned about. Obviously you don’t need to say here if there are particular risks.

I agree with @Jayinthetub, a closed adoption in these circumstances is going to be very difficult if not impossible because they’re always going to wonder and may decide to find out, which increases the risk. Lying to them isn’t really an option and if they’ve directly asked if it’s you, your social worker is going to have a very hard time not giving them a clear answer.