A couple who adopted a newborn baby nearly a year ago have been told to hand him to his biological grandparents, the high court has ruled.
The married couple adopted the boy a day after he was born in November, but must now give him to his natural grandparents, who said they would raise the child two months after he arrived, according to the Daily Mail.
The appeal judgement was handed down by Sir James Munby, president of the family division, yesterday, who ruled the baby should live with anybody within his natural family who was capable of bringing him up.
The judgement reinforced the rule that adoption should only be a “last resort”, with the judges warning that people who wished to adopt would only be able to do so if no one in the child’s birth family was able or willing to raise the child.
The child’s grandparents were approved to look after the boy in May, five months after their son, the boy’s birth father, suggested that they may want to take care of his child.
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Sir James said that, under the law, the child’s tie with his birth family could only be severed in exceptional circumstances.
Speaking of the couple, he said: "Anxiety and anguish was etched on their faces as they sat before us. The outcome will come as a terrible blow," the Daily Mail reports.
The number of children being put forward for adoption has been falling in the recent years, following a series of court rulings which have left local authorities frightened of removing them from their birth families.
Child welfare experts have warned the decline will mean more children suffering in unsuitable and unsafe homes.
It also means difficult delays for parents who have been approved for adoption, only to find no children are available.
Adoptions reached a peak following reforms by the coalition Government, with more than 5,000 children placed with adoptive parents in England in the tax year 2013-14.
But, a judgement by Sir James in November 2013 left many local authorities convinced they must try every extended family member before putting a child up for adoption.
