Adoption Act, 1976

Orders by court as to custody of children in certain cases.

6.—(1) If, in any proceedings, an adoption order is declared invalid by a court and the child concerned is in the custody of the person or persons in whose favour the adoption order was made or any other person or persons not being the person or persons who sought the declaration of invalidity, the court shall not then make an order as to the custody of the child unless such an order is sought and the court is satisfied that, by reason of the fact that any person having custody of the child has been joined in the proceedings and by reason of all the other circumstances of the case, it would be in the interests of justice that the question of the custody of the child should be determined then rather than in separate proceedings; but if the court decides, in accordance with this subsection, to determine the question of the custody of the child it shall do so subject to the provisions of section 3 of the Guardianship of Infants Act, 1964 .

(2) Notwithstanding anything in subsection (1) of this section, the person or persons in whose favour an adoption order is made (or any other person or persons having custody of the child who is the subject of the order) shall not be joined or otherwise heard in any proceedings in a court in which the validity of the order is an issue without the consent of the court, and the court, in deciding whether to give such consent, may take into account submissions made to it by the Board or any other interested person relating to the identification at that time of the person or persons concerned or to any other relevant matter.