Adoption Act, 1964
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Adoption of legitimated child. |
2.—(1) (a) Notwithstanding anything contained in section 10 of the Principal Act, an adoption order may be made in the case of a child— | |
(i) who has been legitimated or whose legitimation has been recognised in pursuance of the provisions of the Legitimacy Act, 1931 , and | ||
(ii) whose birth has not been re-registered in pursuance of the provisions of the Schedule to that Act or in pursuance of the law of a country other than the State, | ||
provided that the father of the child gives his consent to the making of an adoption order or such consent is dispensed with in accordance with section 14 of the Principal Act. | ||
(b) The provisions of subsections (2) to (6) of section 14 of the Principal Act shall apply in relation to a consent referred to in the foregoing paragraph as they apply in relation to the consents referred to in subsection (1) of that section. | ||
(2) In sections 16, 17, 20, 24 and 39 of the Principal Act, any reference to the mother of a child shall, for the purposes of the foregoing provisions of this section, be construed as including a reference to the father of the child. | ||
(3) Where— | ||
(a) a child was illegitimate when the consent by the mother to the making of an adoption order was given or, in a case in which the Board has dispensed with that consent on the ground that the mother could not be found, when the child was born, and | ||
(b) no evidence has been adduced to the Board, either by way of objection to the application for adoption or otherwise, that the child was subsequently legitimated, | ||
the Board may assume, for the purposes of the Principal Act and this Act, that the child is illegitimate at the time the application is heard, and if the Board makes an adoption order and the child has in fact been legitimated, the order shall have the same validity as if the child had not been legitimated and the reference in section 24 of the Principal Act to the mother shall be construed as including a reference to the father. | ||
(4) If, before the passing of this Act, an adoption order was made in respect of a legitimated child (being a child of whose legitimation the Board was not aware), the order shall have, and be deemed always to have had, the same validity as if the child had not been legitimated and the reference in section 24 of the Principal Act to the mother shall be construed as including a reference to the father. |