Adoption
Re X and Y (Children: Adoption Order: Setting Aside) [2026] UKSC 13
The Supreme Court dismissed the appellant, AM, the adoptive mother’s, appeal, holding that the High Court has no inherent parens patriae jurisdiction to revoke a validly made adoption order. AM was the adoptive mother of two children, X and Y. X and Y are no longer children, having both now turned 18. The central question was whether the court possesses any jurisdiction to set aside a validly made adoption order in favour of AM, other than by way of appeal. The court held that adoption is entirely a creature of statute and the Adoption and Children Act 2002 (ACA 2002) makes no provision for revocation of a validly made adoption order on welfare grounds, save for the narrow legitimation exception in s 55. The parens patriae jurisdiction has never extended to reordering parental responsibility by extinguishing it in natural parents and transferring it to adoptive parents. Such powers were only created by statute through the Adoption of Children Act 1926. ACA 2002 made adoption orders final and permanent
