Supreme Court New South Wales Medium Neutral Citation: The Adoption of Lupe (a pseudonym) [2025] NSWSC 65 Hearing dates: On the papers Date of orders: 18 February 2025 Decision date: 18 February 2025 Jurisdiction: Equity - Adoptions List Before: McGrath J Decision: Consent dispense order made 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) Cases Cited: Adoption of A [2022] NSWSC 567 Application of MSC and CJC; re HES [2011] NSWSC 1071 Re DYK and The Adoption Act 2000 [2005] NSWSC 1045 Re K and The Adoption Act 2000 [2005] NSWSC 858 Re KN and The Adoption Act 2000 [2005] NSWSC 896 Category: Procedural rulings Parties: Secretary, New South Wales Department of Communities and Justice (Plaintiff) Representation: Solicitors: Crown Solicitor's Office (Plaintiff) File Number(s): 2025/00047631 Publication restriction: This judgment has been anonymised pursuant to s 180 of the Adoption Act 2000 (NSW) JUDGMENT INTRODUCTION 1. These proceedings concern the adoption of a child who I will call "Lupe" (not the child's real name). 2. By notice of motion filed 5 February 2025, the Secretary of the New South Wales Department of Communities and Justice seeks an order, pursuant to s 67(1)(a) of the Adoption Act 2000 (NSW) (the Act), dispensing with the requirement for the consent of Lupe's father to Lupe's adoption. 3. All persons referred to have been assigned pseudonyms in keeping with s 180 of the Act. 4. I have been greatly assisted by the submissions I received from Ms Hedges for the Secretary. Much of what follows is taken, with gratitude, from those submissions. RELEVANT EVENTS 1. Lupe was born on 26 August 2024 and is now 5 months of age. 2. Lupe's mother, who I will call "Nina" (not her real name), has consistently expressed a wish for Lupe to be placed into care and adopted. Nina has stated that she cannot care for Lupe. Nina concealed her pregnancy from her family and has only informed her sister, who lives in Brisbane, of Lupe's birth and has not informed the rest of her family, who live in Samoa. Nina has two children in her sole care. The father of those two children died on 14 January 2019. 3. On 27 August 2024, Nina signed a Temporary Care Arrangement in respect of Lupe, pursuant to s 151 of the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 (NSW). 4. From 27 August 2024 onwards, Lupe was under the care responsibility of the Secretary. 5. On 29 August 2024, Lupe was placed in short term care with an authorised carer. 6. On 22 November 2024, Nina agreed to extend the Temporary Care Arrangement in respect of Lupe. The extended Temporary Care Arrangement commenced on 28 November 2024, and remains in force, expiring 27 February 2025. It cannot be extended. [1] 7. On 15 January 2025, Nina gave her formal consent to the adoption of Lupe. 8. Nina has been served with the notice of revocation, and the revocation period expired on 14 February 2025. Nina has not revoked her consent. 9. Lupe has not yet been placed for adoption. No application has yet been made for Lupe's adoption. Lupe is a child "awaiting adoption". [2] 10. Unless I make an order dispensing with Lupe's father's consent prior to 27 February 2025, when the Temporary Care Arrangement is to end, the Secretary will cease to have care responsibility under the Temporary Care Arrangement, and care responsibility will revert to Nina. 11. That is because of the expiration of the Temporary Care Arrangement, and because the Secretary could only acquire parental responsibility for Lupe under s 75 of the Act if consent to Lupe's adoption was given by all requisite persons (which is not the case here, as Lupe's father, whoever he is, has not given consent) or if such consent had been dispensed with. Hence, the Secretary has made the application to dispense with the father's consent. 12. If otherwise satisfied that a consent dispense order should be made, the court may do so before an application for adoption has been made. [3] 13. The court may dispense with the consent of a child's parent to the child's adoption if, relevantly, that person, after reasonable inquiry, cannot be found or identified, [4] and if satisfied that to do so would be in the child's best interests. [5] EFFORTS TO LOCATE AND IDENTIFY LUPE'S FATHER 1. I conclude that Lupe's father cannot be identified for the reasons stated below. 2. There is no father recorded on Lupe's birth registration form. 3. Nina has been unable to provide information which would enable the father to be identified. Nina has identified the father to be a man she met in a bar on a girls' night out, she did not know him and they did not exchange names or details. Nina has provided limited further information about the father's identity. 4. Nina has provided the following information as to the father's identity: 1. The father is from a "one night stand" and she does not know his name. The father appeared to be of Middle Eastern, Arab or Islander background. 2. The mother had not been in a relationship with any other man since the death of her previous partner, or around the time of conception. 3. The mother had met the father at a bar in Parramatta, Sydney. The mother had attended the bar with her sister and her friend. The sister did not see the mother with a man, the friend declined to speak with the caseworker. 4. The mother and the father left and went to a home to have sex, and then returned to the bar. The mother does not remember the address, only that it was located not far from the bar. 5. The mother and the father did not exchange contact details. 1. The Secretary submits that it is unable to undertake further searches for the putative father due to the limited information available about him. [6] 2. In the circumstances, I accept that the Secretary has made reasonable efforts to locate and identify Lupe's father. For the same reasons, I accept that the Secretary is not required to serve notice of the application for a consent dispense order on Lupe's father. [7] CONCLUSION 1. Most importantly, I am satisfied that it is in Lupe's best interests to make the consent dispense order, since it enables the child to be placed in a secure adoptive placement as soon as possible. [8] 2. The making of the order will have the effect that the Secretary acquires parental responsibility for Lupe, which prevents such responsibility remaining with Nina; an outcome Nina does not want, and which would not be in Lupe's best interests. 3. For the reasons set out above, I propose to make the following order: 1. Pursuant to s 67(1)(a) of the Adoption Act 2000 (NSW), the court dispenses with the requirement for the consent of the birth father of Lupe. ********** Endnotes 1. s 152(1)(c)(ii), Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act. 2. See the heading to s 75 of the Act; that heading is taken not to be a part of the Act, see s 35(2)(a) of the Interpretation Act 1987 (NSW), but is a useful expression to adopt. 3. s 70(1)(a) of the Act. 4. s 67(1)(a) of the Act. 5. s 67(2) of the Act. 6. The Secretary relied on Re K and The Adoption Act 2000 [2005] NSWSC 858 at [21] (White J); Re DYK and The Adoption Act 2000 [2005] NSWSC 1045 at [16]-[17] (Brereton J); Re KN and The Adoption Act 2000 [2005] NSWSC 896 at [14] (Campbell J); Application of MSC and CJC; re HES [2011] NSWSC 1071 at [18] (Brereton J). 7. s 72(2)(a) of the Act. 8. See the reasons of Stevenson J in Adoption of A [2022] NSWSC 567 at [14]. 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