Incredible adoption report

[ThisHonestPeachEagle]

An absolutely incredible series of events shared by Suesspicious Minds blog. The poor child in this case was adopted whilst the parents actively deceived the LA and courts about their relationship. And it gets wilder from there! Thankfully rare but jaw dropping nevertheless. https://suesspiciousminds.com/2026/05/12/duty-of-candour/

I read this elsewhere.
I was shocked by (A) the behaviour of the adoptive parents and (B) the fact that the adoption was overturned.

It’s sad to read these cases and whilst I do believe that if a child is being placed for adoption they deserve and need stability and therefore an adoption order should be permanent it is cases such as these which means we need to have that ability should the absolute need arise to exercise it and it is extremely rare (and so it should be) for an adoption to be overturned.

I would have imagined that should the child have been left with the adoptive parents there would have been significant concerns from reading the article.

Totally agree. It does leave me to wonder how they got through the process without the lies being detected. The behaviours don’t appear to be one offs but a pattern of dreadful choices.

Stories like this (and the awful Preston Davey case) really make me question the assessment process for potential adopters. Everyone is really put through the wringer, every corner of life poked and prodded, but it turns out if you're a good liar and present yourself the right way it makes no difference? I know cases this extreme are rare but I can't help feeling there must be learning here about the approval process.

I'm wondering about the referees and what they knew / said.

What else could SS do at this point? The process is already strict and long, they ask for numerous references and monitor people really closely to avoid these cases as much as possible.

This happens with everything, not just adoptions: people are not omnipotent and can't be everywhere or know everything. Cases where children are left with unsafe caretakers (either BPs or APs) will happen sometimes, because there's always some cases that slip through the cracks, as unfortunate as it is. The idea is to prevent these cases as much as possible, but that they will happen once in a blue moon is sadly true.

Glad to read that the adoption order was overturned, adoptive mother sounds like an unsafe person who didn't consider the child's needs at all.

Don't forget the timescales involved. The adoption order comes long after the child arrived in their lives, they may have been waiting for a long time, the family finder interviews aren't as in depth as the assessment ones.
And relationships can rupture very quickly.
So I wouldn't fault the social workers. And even the judge said it was clear both adopted parents loved the child.
But the dating a prisoner thing is mind blowing.

@QuercusIlex I actually mean the opposite, I don't think they should do more. I think they should do less more effectively and intelligently. Why bother with such an extensive and painful process when it isn't reliable? I think it needs to be better based on evidence of what actually works, what actually predicts adoption success? I'd bet the answer isn't spending a year or two poking and prodding into every corner of someone's life. I'd love to see a research study looking at whether a slimmed down, more targeted assessment process could be just as effective as what we have in place now. I don't know if that evidence is there yet but I don't feel the adoption system is working for anyone right now - adopters, children or social workers.