re HAC

The parties in this case are the applicants, who sought to adopt a child born in Ethiopia, and the child's birth mother, who was not a party to the Inter-Country Adoption Convention and whose consent was required under the Adoption Act. The dispute centred on whether the court should grant a consent dispense order, allowing the adoption to proceed without the birth mother's consent, despite her having already consented in an Ethiopian court. The matter was heard by the Family Court of Australia.

The legal issues before the court were whether the adoption application should proceed under the NSW Adoption Act and whether the birth mother's prior consent in the Ethiopian court should be recognised for the purposes of the Adoption Act. Additionally, the court had to determine if there were grounds to dispense with the birth mother's consent under the Adoption Act, given that she had already consented in Ethiopia and was not a party to the Inter-Country Adoption Convention.

The court found that the adoption application must proceed under the NSW Adoption Act, as the adopting parents were not resident or domiciled in Ethiopia, which is not a prescribed overseas jurisdiction. It was determined that the birth mother's consent in the Ethiopian court did not satisfy the requirements of the Adoption Act, as the birth mother had not given consent for the purposes of the Act. The court also noted that there were no grounds apparent to dispense with the birth mother's consent, as she was not shown to be unable to be identified or found. Consequently, the application for a consent dispense order was declined.

No final orders were made in this excerpt of the judgment. The court's decision focused on the legal requirements for adoption under the NSW Adoption Act and the necessity of the birth mother's consent in accordance with Australian law.