FD25F00014 - [2025] EWHC 2483 (Fam)

One point that I must make clear is that although I am making a child arrangements order which will result in YV living with and being cared for by the paternal grandmother in Kazakhstan, it is not the intention of the local authority, the children’s guardian or indeed the Court that YV should be adopted by the grandmother. It is an offence under section 85(3) of the Adoption of Children Act 2002 for a child who is habitually resident in the UK to be removed from the UK for the purposes of an adoption unless certain conditions have been met. So far as this Court and the parties to this application are concerned, YV is being placed with the grandmother as a kinship carer under a child arrangements order and the order that I am making under section 13 of the Children Act 1989 permitting YV’s removal from the jurisdiction is for that purpose alone.

I recognise that once YV is in Kazakhstan they are likely to become habitually resident in that jurisdiction very quickly, and that ultimately, should the grandmother seek to adopt YV, that would be a matter for the courts of Kazakhstan. However, for the avoidance of all doubt, my order will record the position of the local authority and the children’s guardian that neither intend for the grandmother to adopt YV and that my order is not intended to be for the purpose of facilitating YV’s adoption outside the jurisdiction.