In the matter of the adoption of CD

In the Family Court of Australia, the matter of the adoption of CD involved an application by the prospective adoptive parents to dispense with the consent of the birth parents. The birth father was unable to be located and had no known address, while the birth mother, who had consented to the adoption, could not be contacted directly. The primary issue before the court was whether the statutory requirements under section 35 of the Adoption Act 1993 (ACT) were satisfied to dispense with the father's consent and whether a declaration regarding the need to dispense with the father's consent was necessary.

The court examined whether all reasonable steps had been taken to serve the application on the birth mother and the father. It was determined that the prospective adoptive parents had taken extensive efforts to locate the birth father, including inquiries with various government agencies and searches through public records, but without success. Regarding the birth mother, the court found that while direct contact had not been achieved, all reasonable steps had been taken to serve her with the application. The court held that since the birth mother had already consented to the adoption, her consent could be dispensed with, and no declaration was required concerning the father's consent due to the exhaustive efforts made to locate him.

The court concluded that the statutory requirements were met as the prospective adoptive parents had taken all reasonable steps to locate and serve the birth father, despite his unavailability. The court dispensed with the requirement for the birth mother's consent as she had already consented to the adoption, and the father's consent was deemed unnecessary due to the inability to locate him. The application to dispense with the birth parents' consent was therefore granted.

The final order of the court was that the consent of the birth parents was dispensed with, allowing the adoption of CD to proceed. The court found that the prospective adoptive parents had satisfied the statutory requirements, and all reasonable efforts had been made to serve the application on the birth parents.