The Adoption of Maxwell (a pseudonym) [2024] NSWSC 1230

Supreme Court New South Wales

Medium Neutral Citation: The Adoption of Maxwell (a pseudonym) [2024] NSWSC 1230 Hearing dates: On the papers Decision date: 01 October 2024 Jurisdiction: Equity - Adoptions List Before: Stevenson J Decision: Consent dispense order to be made Catchwords: CHILD WELFARE – adoption – consent dispense order – where consent dispense order sought before application for adoption order – where father not identified – where multiple putative fathers identified – where reasonable inquiries made to identify and locate the father Legislation Cited: Adoption Act 2000 (NSW) Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1989 (NSW) Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW) Cases Cited: Adoption of A [2022] NSWSC 567 Re DYK and The Adoption Act 2000 [2005] NSWSC 1045 Re K and The Adoption Act 2000 [2005] NSWSC 858 at [21] Re KN and The Adoption Act 2000 [2005] NSWSC 896 Secretary, Department of Family and Community Services; Re C and the Adoption Act 2000 (NSW) [2014] NSWSC 1007 Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Secretary, New South Wales Department of Communities and Justice (Plaintiff) Representation: Solicitors: New South Wales Department of Communities and Justice (Plaintiff) File Number(s): 2024/352271 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 "Maxwell" (not his real name), aged five months. 2. By Summons and Notice of Motion filed 18 September 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 Maxwell's father to Maxwell's adoption. 3. I have been greatly assisted by the careful submissions I received from Ms Pancia for the Secretary. Much of what follows is taken, with gratitude, from those submissions.