Woodbury and Anor and Fowler (No 3)

In the matter of *Woodbury and Anor and Fowler (No 3)*, Gill J of the Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory considered an application concerning the adoption of a child. The applicants, Mr and Mrs Woodbury, sought to amend their initiating application, which had previously been withdrawn in part. The respondent, Fowler, was also a party to the proceedings.

The central legal issues before the Court were whether to grant the applicants leave to withdraw certain parts of their amended initiating application and, crucially, whether to grant leave to orally amend that application to reinstate specific orders. These reinstated orders pertained to the adoption of a child, identified as X, by Mr Woodbury, and the subsequent amendment of the child's surname on the ACT's Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

Gill J's reasoning focused on the procedural aspects of the application, granting leave for the applicants to withdraw and then subsequently reinstate their desired orders. The Court applied the principles governing amendments to court documents and the specific provisions of the *Adoption Act 1993* (ACT) relating to adoption proceedings. The Court ultimately ordered that Mr Woodbury be granted leave to adopt the child X, and that the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages be requested to amend the child's surname on the register. The balance of the proceedings were dismissed, and the Court imposed restrictions on the inspection of the court file pursuant to section 60 of the *Adoption Act 1993* (ACT).