Would the Minister accept that if an adoptive couple were to meet the means for civil legal aid, which is £6,700 or £6,900 per year, they would never be entitled to adopt a child as no adoption society would allow a couple with such low means to adopt a child? I know the Minister is aware of a case concerning constituents of ours who recently had to go to the High Court in order to dispense with the natural mother's consent. This cost the couple £23,000. They have to remortgage their house in order to pay the costs. Is the Minister aware that there is a possibility that the natural mother will appeal this case to the Supreme Court? In the High Court case the natural mother was funded as she has no means and there is a possibility that she will be funded in order to take the case to the Supreme Court. This has put both financial and emotional strains on the couple who have had the child for four years.
Given that only a small number of families come into this category, would the Minister not agree that it would be both humane and just if he provided some small level of resources to the Adoptive Parent's Society? Alternatively, in cases where the child has been with the adoptive parents for a number of years, the Legal Aid Board might look at these cases in a sympathetic way and adjudicate on entitlement to aid on a different basis. It should be remembered that there are very few adoption orders in any event and an even smaller number are challenged in order to dispense with the natural mother's consent. Would the Minister not agree that it is grossly unfair that adoptive parents, many of whom have waited for years to adopt a child, should have to endure this terrible burden in order to finalise the adoption?