Case No. GL20P00553

, Baker J (as he then was) considered two cases of babies who had been relinquished for adoption. In one of the cases there was a clash between the wishes of the parents on the one hand which were for the child to be adopted in England and the Hungarian authorities and of the child’s Guardian on the other, which were for the child to be sent to Hungary and placed for adoption there. Baker J concluded that in a case where the parents were consenting to an adoption, the approval of the court did not depend on the local authority or the court concluding that ‘nothing else will do’, because the degree of interference with family life rights was less than when the parent child relationship was severed against their wishes. In paragraph 55 he stated; “Instead, they must approach the case by applying section 1 of the 2002 Act. making sure that they give paramount consideration to the child’s welfare throughout his or her life, allocating such weight as they consider appropriate to the comprehensive list of factors within section 1(4). In such cases, the local authority and the court must consider the parents’ wishes that their child be adopted in the context of all those factors, including the child’s background, the likely effect on the child of having ceased to be a member of the original family and the ability and willingness of any of the child’s relatives to meet the child’s needs. As in the case of step-parent adoptions, the manner in which the statutory provisions are applied will depend upon the facts of each case and the assessment of proportionality”. In paragraph 56 he stated “It follows therefore that in all adoption cases – non consensual and consensual – the local authority is under an obligation to carry out a thorough analysis of the realistic options for the child as highlighted in Re B-S. Indeed a thorough analysis of all the realistic options should surely be carried out in all cases where a local authority is making plans for the child’s future”. 22.In