Supreme Court confirms finality of adoption orders in landmark ruling
Commenting in Today’s Family Lawyer, Partner Flora Grossman discusses the Supreme Court ruling in X and Y (Children: Adoption Order: Setting Aside), which confirmed that adoption orders cannot be revisited outside the formal appeals process.
"Today's decision reinforces the principle that adoption is for life and not subject to reopening based on changing feelings or relationships, providing certainty and reassurance for all adopters going forward.
"However, for the children in this case, it shows that the law prioritises legal permanence over their lived reality of disconnection and fails to give the children themselves any voice.
"The court has effectively rejected the argument that a child’s feelings, no matter how strong, do not outweigh the need for certainty in the adoption system. This therefore draws a very hard line reinforcing the premise that revocation is only available for procedural fraud or error, and not for welfare reasons.
"This refusal by the court will probably not end this debate and will instead surely force the government and Parliament to decide whether the current law is fit for purpose, and whether welfare reasons should in future be treated as possible grounds to revoke adoption."
An extract of Flora's comments was published in Today’s Family Lawyer, 23 April 2026.
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