What rights do women have to conceal their pregnancy from the fathers-to-be? Julie O'Malley explores the issues
In cases where women have wished to conceal their pregnancy from the father, the courts have traditionally shielded the mothers and allowed adoption relatively unimpeded at the expense of children being left potentially unaware of their background and without any opportunity to find a father and hence the paternal side of the family.
This has been justified on practical rather than dogmatic grounds. For example, in the leading case of Re C (a child) v XYZ County Council and EC (2007) [2007] EWCA Civ 1206, [2007] All ER (D) 368 (Nov) it was decided that the interests of the child were such that the delay inherent in consulting the father, his family, or the family of the mother would be inimical to the interests of the child. Lady Justice Arden found that under the provisions of the Adoption and Children Act 2002: “When a decision requires to be made about the long-term care of a child whom a mother wishes to be adopted, there is no duty to
