The Family Division of the UK High Court has ruled, in the case of Seddon v Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council, that an adoption order brings all pre-existing Article 8 rights as between a birth parent and an adopted child to an end. It held that these rights arose from the parent-child relationship which is terminated by virtue of the adoption.
The case related specifically to post-adoption contact. At the original adoption hearing, a post-adoption contact order was made consisting of an exchange of letters twice a year. This was subsequently reduced to once a year as a consequence of the birth mother, Ms. Seddon’s, sustained opposition to the adoption. Ms. Seddon appealed the decision not to grant her direct contact to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The ECtHR, however, declared her complaints inadmissible and held that the national authorities had not breached her Article 8 right to family life.
In July 2014, Ms. Seddon began proceedings in the High Court under the Human Rights Act 1998. The Court began by considering whether or not Article 8 rights survive the making of an adoption order. It first examined domestic law, specifically the Adoption and Children Act 2002, which states that “an adopted child is to be treated in law as if born as the child of the adopter or adopters” and not as “the child of any other person.” Furthermore, the Court found that the 1967 European Convention on the Adoption of Children, which the ECtHR has deemed a primary instrument for the interpretation of Article 8 obligations, states that an adoption “shall terminate the legal relationship between the child and his or her father, mother and family of origin.” Finally, the Court examined case law taken under Article 8 before the ECtHR which makes clear that the termination of the legal relationship as between the birth parent and the child also ends their family life under Article 8. The High Court thus concluded that an adoption order brings all pre-existing Article 8 rights to an end.
Applying this to the current case, the ECtHR held that while post-adoption contact orders may be made, they do not in themselves create or maintain Article 8 rights as between birth parents and adopted children. Since there were no longer any Article 8 rights in existence between Ms. Seddon and her adopted child, she had no absolute right to contact with her.
Click here to read the full High Court judgement.