The Adoption of Rachel (a pseudonym) [2024] NSWSC 168

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: The Adoption of Rachel (a pseudonym) [2024] NSWSC 168 Hearing dates: On the papers Date of orders: 23 February 2024 Decision date: 27 February 2024 Jurisdiction: Equity - Adoptions List Before: Stevenson J Decision: Order to dispense with consent of birth father Catchwords: CHILD WELFARE – adoption – consent dispense order – where consent dispense order sought before application for adoption order – where father not identified – where reasonable enquiries made to identify and locate the father Legislation Cited: Adoption Act 2000 (NSW) Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW) Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW) Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Secretary, New South Wales Department of Communities and Justice (Plaintiff) Representation: Solicitors: Crown Solicitor's Office (Plaintiff) File Number(s): 2024/67430 Publication restriction: This judgment has been anonymised pursuant to s 180 of the Adoption Act 2000 (NSW)

JUDGMENT 1. These proceedings relate to the proposed adoption of a child who I will call "Rachel" (not her real name). 2. By Notice of Motion filed 20 February 2024, the Secretary of the New South Wales Department of Communities and Justice sought an order, pursuant to s 67(1)(a) of the Adoption Act 2000 (NSW), dispensing with the requirement for the consent of Rachel's father to Rachel's adoption. 3. I made that order on 23 February 2024. These are my reasons. 4. I have been greatly assisted by the careful submissions I received from Ms Hailstone and Ms Ridley from the Crown Solicitor's Office. Much of what follows is taken, with gratitude, from those submissions.