Step-Parent Adoption - The Process
This process can look quite complicated. If you have any questions or need help in completing the application or letter required, please contact us.
1. Go to the Court Office in Deemsters Walk, Douglas and ask for an adoption application form. You will be given three copies, all of which have to be completed. You can complete these yourselves, ask us to help you, or go to an advocate if you feel your child’s other parent may oppose the application. Unless the Court is satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances, current adoption law requires that married couples adopt jointly. This means that the birth parent has to adopt their own child jointly with the step-parent.
2. Return the completed forms to the Court Office together with a certified copy of your marriage certificate, a full copy of your child’s birth certificate and two photocopies of both of those documents. If your child’s name has been changed by deed poll, you will need to provide the original deed poll document and 2 photocopies as well. You also need to request the Court to return to you all original certificates once the adoption is finalised.
There will be a charge for submitting your application.
3. At the same time, write to the Director of Social Services, Hillary House, Prospect Hill, Douglas, IM1 1EQ, to say that you (Mr and Mrs …) of …. (address) will be applying for an adoption order in respect of ……..(child’s current name and date of birth)
Your request will be acknowledged.
4. The IOM High Court will then call a directions hearing to appoint IOMAS to prepare a report for the Court, to appoint a Guardian ad Litem, and will set a hearing date (final if your application is likely to be uncontested; interim if contested).
5. A social worker from the IOMAS will make arrangements to see you and your child at home, together and separately. We are also required by law to undertake a range of statutory checks on both you and your partner.
6. Each absent legal parent, a parent with parental responsibility or legal guardian will have to give written consent to the making of an Adoption Order. Such persons will be contacted by the social worker where possible, especially if financial support has been given, or where ordered by the Court, or if contact, (whether directly or indirectly) has been made with the child (currently or in the past).
If a legal parent, a parent with parental responsibility or legal guardian,
- Cannot be found or is incapable of giving agreement,
- Withholds his or her agreement unreasonably,
- Has persistently failed without a reasonable cause to discharge his or her parental duties in relation to the child,
- Has abandoned or neglected the child,
- Has persistently ill-treated the child, seriously ill-treated the child,
then application may be made to the court to dispense with such parent or guardian’s consent.
7. Wherever possible we are also required to locate a parent without parental responsibility and seek his views.
8. The social worker has a duty to prepare a Schedule 3 report which provides the court with a comprehensive history of the family including the reason for the adoption application and a recommendation about whether the order should be granted.
9. Once the court has received the completed Schedule 3 report, the Guardian ad Litem will contact you to review all aspects of the application, particularly from the child’s perspective. The Guardian ad Litem is an independent social worker appointed by the Court to represent your child’s interests. She would usually visit the absent birth parent as well as the applicants and the child concerned. The Guardian ad Litem will also make a recommendation to the Court about whether adoption is in the best interests of the child.
10. The Schedule 3 and Guardian ad Litem reports are confidential to the court. Copies of these are therefore not usually available to the applicants or any other person. In contested hearings, however, the Deemster may allow access to parts of the report, depending on the circumstances of the case.
11. All adoption hearings are held in the High Court of Justice . The child must be present at the final Court hearing unless given permission not to attend because of exceptional circumstances. |
