High Court reserves judgment in adoption case
Friday, 2 November 2007 16:56The High Court has reserved judgment until Monday on an action taken by a couple who say the Adoption Board is preventing them from adopting a child from Ethiopia.
Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan said he would try to give his judgment then.
The couple has received all the necessary documentation from the Adoption Board and was about to travel to Ethiopia to adopt a nine-month-old baby girl, when they were advised by the Board not to travel.
The Board says a question has arisen about the compatibility of Ethiopian and Irish adoption laws.
It says until it gets further information, it cannot guarantee that children adopted in Ethiopia will be registered as citizens in Ireland. It says it had an obligation to warn prospective adoptive parents about the situation.
The couple say the case is extremely urgent as the adoption may fall through within days if the situation is not clarified.
