Re adoption after advice

[Alizahscarlet1]

Me and my partner are happily married with 6 kids a few days ago my wife had a surprise pregnancy which isn’t practical we don’t want to put the baby in the care system however my brother and sister in law both have problems conceiving as in they can never have kids so would be nice if someone could share if they have been in a similar situation as be ideal for all parties if they brought the child up them selves and what are the legal implications and how to go about it any help greatly appreciated

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Alizahscarlet1,

Welcome to the parents’ forum and thank you for your post. I hope that the following information and advice is helpful to you. Please click on the hyperlinks to take you to more information on our website.

You want to know whether it is possible for your brother and sister-in-law to bring your unborn baby up as you already have 6 children and do not feel able to care for another child.

In short, yes it is possible for your brother and sister-in-law to raise and care for your child, however it is important that you and your brother and sister-in-law are fully aware of the legal, emotional and practical consequences of any decisions made.

Firstly, your brother and sister-in-law could care for your child under a private family arrangement.

A private family arrangement is where a child is cared for by a close relative and:

 1) The relative caring for the child does not have parental responsibility

 2) Children’s services have not had a major role in making the arrangement and

 3) The Family Court has not made an order about the care of the child.

However, it is likely that your brother and sister-in-law would want to apply for parental responsibility for your child (so that they can make decisions about the child – such as which school they go to, consent to medical care, take them on holiday abroad etc). Therefore they may want to consider applying for an order such as a Special Guardianship Order which would give them parental responsibility (which they would share with you).

They may also wish to get some advice about making an application for an adoption order, but they would likely only be able to do this once the child has been living with them for at least 3 years. Please see HERE for more information about this.

I would also like to highlight the importance of you, your wife and your brother and sister-in-law in ensuring that you seek emotional and therapeutic support with this exceptionally important decision. PAC-UK may be able to offer some advice and guidance to you regarding this, as they support families affected by adoption or permanency plans.

I hope that this is of some help. Please post again if you have any further queries or you can call our free, confidential adviceline on 0808 801 0366 (Monday to Friday, 9:30am – 3pm). We also have a webchat which is currently open on Monday and Thursday afternoons.

Best wishes,
Suzie