Proportional Approach to Adoption Placement Orders
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Isabelle James
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Placement for adoption orders and a proportionate approach to risk
Adoption is one of the most significant orders the family court can make in respect of a child. It is often referred to as a draconian measure, for good reason: adoption severs the legal relationship between child and birth parents.
For this reason, the courts should only make an adoption order, or placement order approving a child being placed for adoption, if it’s justified and no other order will adequately safeguard the child’s welfare. This was the focus in a recent case where the Court of Appeal unanimously decided a placement order was disproportionate and must be set aside.
What happened?
The child in N (A Child: Placement Order: Proportionality) [2025] EWCA Civ 1541 was a 2-year-old boy whose mother was Japanese. The local authority became involved from the time of birth in October 2023 as, following the child’s birth, the nursing staff at the hospital felt the mother was unable to care for him independently.
The mother was a single parent, having been widowed and pregnant through assisted conception. For 21 months, she and her son were in a semi-independent placement. Then, with the mother’s agreement, they went to two successive mother and baby foster placements.
A final hearing on the local authority’s application took place in August 2025, where a family judge made care and placement orders, concluding that the child was at risk of significant physical and emotional harm if he remained with his mother. However, it was not alleged that he had ever suffered actual harm while in her care, the concern was over a risk of future harm.
The Court of Appeal has overturned the orders, making clear the court must “maintain a sense of proportion and keep the bigger picture in view”.
Lord Justice Peter Jackson, who handed down the ruling, said that the adoption on the basis of this type of evidence was an “improbable outcome” and a particularly compelling justification was required. The mother had been her son’s primary carer for nearly two years, during which no harm had come to the child. This should have been taken into account when the court was considering future risks.
Even if he had suffered accidents because of his mother’s inattention to risk, there was, the judge said, “no reason to believe that the consequences of individual events would be worse for him than for any other child”. Further emphasis was given in the appeal Judgment to an inadequate consideration of the cultural aspects affecting the mother’s parenting and the possible support measures, which could support the child remaining in his mother’s care.
What does this mean?
This decision is highly reassuring for any birth parent who finds themselves in similar circumstances. The mother in this case clearly loved her son; and he loved her and was thriving. The placement order should never have been made and severely affected her.
Every parent can sympathise with the judge’s comment that “the feared harm has not yet materialised and may never do so”. No child is totally immune from the risk of domestic accidents, but fortunately accidents with, what the Court described as “potentially catastrophic” outcomes, are rare.
Without compelling evidence that a child is at significant risk of physical or mental harm if they are to remain with their birth parent, a placement for adoption order would not be justified. Judges are required to maintain a sense of proportion when deciding what orders to make.
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