Northern Ireland

The court were satisfied that R and A were living as ‘partners in an enduring family relationship’ which allowed A to apply for a ‘step-parent adoption’ under section 51(2). The court considered that the courts have applied a ‘wide and flexible’ definition of home and that there was no definition of home in the Act. The Act does not require that the child be continuously in the care of the proposed adopter, nor that the adopter and child have to share the same residence. The court found that ‘home’ will never be seen merely in a physical or geographical context: ‘“Home” is a place where there is an emotional connection.’ In the context of an 18-year-old who regards A as his father and has an emotional bond with him, it could be found that YP’s home is with A despite not living in the same country. The court considered other issues relating to YP’s interest in remaining part of his paternal birth family and the effect of an adoption on A’s adult children, whom YP did not know, and decided that it was in YP’s best interests to make an adoption order.