Seddon v Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council

Subject Matter

ADOPTION — Adoption order — Contact — Child placed for adoption following care proceedings brought by local authority — Birth mother seeking leave to apply for post-adoption contact — Whether Convention right to family life as between birth parent and child surviving making of adoption order — Whether post-adoption contact reviving or creating Convention rights as between birth parent and adopted child — Whether legislation governing post-adoption contact incompatible with Convention rights — Whether leave to be granted — Whether local authority post-adoption correspondence exchange service engaging Convention rights — Whether redaction of and refusal to forward correspondence unlawful — Human Rights Act 1998 (c 42), ss 6, 7, Sch 1, Pt I, art 8 — Adoption and Children Act 2002 (c 38) (as amended by Children and Families Act 2014 (c 6), s 9), ss 3(1), 46, 51A, 67 — Adoption Support Services Regulations 2005 (SI 2005/691), reg 3(1)(c)

[2015] EWHC 2609 (Fam); [2016] Fam 171; [2016] 2 WLR 1013; [2016] 2 FLR 87; [2015] WLR (D) 388, Fam D