A family judge has urged child protection professionals to use Facebook and other forms of social media when trying to trace birth parents in adoption cases.
Ruling in Re T (a child) [2017] EWFC 19, Mr Justice Holman said: “I do wish to highlight by this short judgment that, in the modern era, Facebook may well be a route to somebody such as a birth parent whose whereabouts are unknown and who requires to be served with notice of adoption proceedings.”
The social workers in charge of the case had been unable to trace the birth mother, who now lives abroad. The child had been placed in care at the age of three, and lived with foster parents who now wished to formally adopt. The father then claimed to have changed his lifestyle, and opposed the adoption order. A day before the hearing, the father’s partner contacted the birth mother on Facebook and was able to speak to her by telephone.
Holman J said he regretted that a four-year-old child, who already had a strong attachment with the foster parent, was “likely, if not bound, to be prejudiced by a further delay in resolution of this application”.
“But the fact is that it concerns the very significant and very final matter of adoption,” he said.
He abandoned the hearing and ordered that it be re-fixed to start from scratch before another judge, allowing sufficient time for proper service upon the mother, as he was only sitting temporarily in the Manchester court.
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