Address / Contact
India Buildings Chambers
8th Floor, India Buildings, Water Street, Liverpool, L2 0XG
Telephone: 0151 243 6000
Fax: 0151 243 6040
DX 14227 LIVERPOOL
Mark Senior
3rd September 2008
Mark Senior has recently been led in a case by Anthony Hayden QC - RE H [2008] EWCA Civ 503 where the Court of Appeal considered the question of how adoptive parents of one child should be regarded when considering their "connection", for the purposes of section 10(9) Children Act 1989, to a half sibling subsequently placed in care.
At first instance, when considering an application under section 10(9) for leave to apply for a residence order for the half sibling, the Court held that the connection between adoptive parents and subsequent child was "indirect". The Court of Appeal disagreed, finding that a) the fact that the adoptive parents were the legal parents of the half sibling, and b) the principle that it is right for half siblings to be brought up together wherever that is possible, were both factors that should have been given greater weight and, in this case, militated in favour of the couple having leave to apply for residence.