Convention adoptions – sections 3 to 8
Section 6. Annulment etc. of Convention adoptions
38.Subsection (1) amends section 53(1) of the 1976 Act and section 47(1) of the 1978 Act (annulment etc. of overseas adoptions) to provide for the High Court to annul a Convention adoption or a Convention adoption order on the ground that the particular adoption or order is contrary to public policy. The effect of any annulment will be that the Convention adoption will cease to have effect in the Great Britain.
39.This amendment implements Article 24 of the Convention: ‘ The recognition of an adoption may be refused in a contracting State only if the adoption is manifestly contrary to its public policy, taking into account the best interests of the child’.
40.Subsection (2) amends subsection 53(5) of the 1976 Act and subsection 47 (5) of the 1978 Act to provide that except as provided by section 53(1) or section 47(1) of the 1978 Act, the validity of a Convention adoption or Convention adoption order shall not be challenged in any court in England and Wales or Scotland.
41.Subsection (4) provides for the recognition in England, Wales and Scotland of determinations made in Convention countries relating to Convention adoptions and Convention adoption orders and of determinations made in respect of any adoption in the Channel Islands, Isle of Man or any colony. A ‘determination’ essentially means a decision of a court or other competent authority to authorise or review an adoption or the revocation or annulment of an adoption. It also makes minor amendments consequent on the proposed repudiation of the 1965 Convention.