A Failure of Proportion: Non-Consensual Adoption in England and Wales

Description

This book explores non-consensual adoption – an area of law which has sparked considerable debate amongst academics, practitioners and the judiciary nationally and internationally. The emphasis of this book is on the circumstances in which non-consensual adoption may be regarded as a proportionate measure and when less severe forms of intervention, such as long-term foster care or kinship care, may also meet children’s needs while providing protection to children’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. The book builds on existing literature on adoption law but takes the discussion in new directions, placing an emphasis on the need to closely scrutinise children’s and parents’ rights at all stages of the adoption process, not simply when parents appeal against the making of an adoption order. A unique feature of this book is its emphasis on routinely incorporating key provisions from the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child into analysis when determining whether an adoption order is a proportionate measure. Preface Acknowledgements Contents 1. Introduction I. Non-Consensual Adoption: The Legal Issue and Social Climate II. Background to Non-Consensual Adoption: A Controversial Solution III. Book Overview 2. Children’s Best Interests and Children’s and Parents’ Rights I. Introduction: The Interrelationship between Rights and Best Interests II. Non-Consensual Adoption and the European Convention on Human Rights III. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child IV. Conclusion 3. Adoption Cases in the European Court of Human Rights I. Introduction: Last Port of Call and Last Portal of Hope? II. The Protection of Children: The ECHR, the UNCRC and Proportionality III. Procedural Protection of Rights in Adoption Proceedings IV. Proportionate Protection of Substantive Rights in Care and Adoption Proceedings V. Guidance on Reuniting Children and Parents in Adoption Cases? VI. Two UK Adoption Cases in the European Court of Human Rights VII. Conclusion 4. Adoption Cases in the Courts in England and Wales I. Introduction: Adoption – First Port of Call or Last Resort? II. The Adoption Legislation III. The Controversy of Webster and Norfolk County Council and Others IV. The Proportionality of Non-Consensual Adoption: Legal Challenges in the Supreme Court V. Court of Appeal Guidance on Non-Consensual Adoption: Re B-S (Children) VI. Adoption Law – More Adoptions, More Quickly VII. Conclusion 5. Alternatives to Non-Consensual Adoption I. Introduction: Adoption in Proportion? II. State Assistance in England and Wales III. Foster Care: Short-Term Stepping Stone or in for the Long Haul? IV. Kinship Care: Keeping Extended Family Units Together V. Special Guardianship Orders VI. Non-Consensual Adoption with Direct Contact VII. Government Targets, Financial Savings and Proportionality VIII. Conclusion 6. Conclusion I. An Overview of the Proportionality of Non-Consensual Adoptions II. The State and Less Restrictive Alternatives III. A Final Word on the Importance of Proportionality Index