Case No. UKUT-00197-(IAC)

(Designation of Overseas Adoptions) Order 1973 (‘the designated list’) as they related to adoptions made from 1 February 1973 to 2 January 2014. Such adoptions were recognised in the United Kingdom . On 3 January 2014, the designated list was revoked and replaced by the Adoption (Recognition of Overseas Adoptions) Order 2013 and the 2013 Scottish R egulations. Jamaica was omitted from the list of countries whose adoptions , since January 2014, were recognised in the United Kingdom . Only the c ountries so listed were known as ‘overseas adoptions’. 6. Th e appellant submitted a Jamaican adoption certificate dated 16 December 2014 as part of her application. By then, this adoption certificate had ceased to be recognised by the authorities in the United Kingdom . The appeal to the FTT 7. The appellant’s appeal came before First-tier Tribunal Judge S. Taylor on 12 June 2017. The determination was promulgated on 27 June 2017. The First-tier Tribunal J udge found that the appellant could not meet the requirements of the R ules for entry clearance. Having not met them, t he refusal of entry clearance was not an interference with the appellant’s family life sufficient to engage Article 8. He rejected the appellant’s appeal. Adoption law 8. Not all foreign adoptions are recognised, that is, have legal effect in the United Kingdom. Sections 66 and 67 of the Adoption and Chi ldren Act 2002 and sections 39 and 40 of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 define the adoptions treated in law as having legal effect in England, Wales and Scotland (termed in the Adoption and Children Act as ‘ Chapter 4 adoptions’ ). These include certain intercountry adoptions: (i) An adoption effected under the law of a Hague Convention country outside the British Islands, and certified in pursuance of Article 23(1) of the Convention (a “Hague Convention adoption” ). The UK incorporated the Hague Convention of 29 May 1993 on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption into domestic law by the operation of the Adoption (Intercountry Aspects) Act 1999 Schedule 1 and Adoptions with a Foreign Element (Scotland) Regulations 2009/SI 182 (Scottish SI). (ii) An overseas adoption (as referred to in paragraph 5 above) effected under the law of a country or territory listed in the Schedule to the Adoption (Recognition of Overseas Adoptions) Order 2013 from 3 January 2014 and to the Adoption (Designation of Overseas Adoptions) Order 1973 for adoptions made from 1 February 1973 to 2 January 2014. These state that such adoptions must not be a Hague Convention, customary or common law adoption. This change is the underlying factor in this appellant’s appeal. (iii) An adoption recognised by the law of England and Wales and effected under the law of any other country. The inherent jurisdiction invoked to recognise foreign adoptions is described in detail by Sir James Munby President in N (A Child), Re [2016] EWHC 3085 (Fam). We only attempt a summary: t he adoptive parents must have been domiciled in the foreign country at the time of the foreign adoption; the child must have been legally adopted in accordance with the requirements of the foreign law; t he foreign adoption must in substance have the same essential characteristics as an English adoption and there must be no reason in public policy for refusing recognition.