The use of human rights law in reading down adoption legislation (Re H (Step-Parent Adoption: Human Rights)

Article summary

Family analysis: In Re H (Step-Parent Adoption: Human Rights), the court exercised its jurisdiction under section 3 of the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA 1998) in relation to an application brought by a step-parent (the applicant step-father) to adopt his step-child by reading down section 51(2) of the Adoption and Children Act 2002 (ACA 2002). By doing so, the court could make a step-parent adoption order in the applicant step-father’s favour, despite the fact the child’s mother, (the only parent with parental responsibility for him) had died. ACA 2002, s 51(2) is written in the present tense and provides that an application for adoption by one person can be made if the applicant is the partner of a parent of the person to be adopted. The step-father was no longer a partner of the child’s mother as she was deceased, hence the issue and the requirement to rely on the parties’ human rights. The court...