Re PW (Adoption)
[2013] 1 FLR 96 · High Court, Family Division
What happened: An adult adoptee, aged 69, sought to challenge the adoption made when she was 17. She had been adopted by family friends and remained close to them throughout her life, but believed the adoption should not have been made. Her application eventually proceeded as a request for permission to appeal many years out of time.
What the court decided: The court refused to extend time and dismissed the application for permission to appeal. The adoption remained in force. The Court of Appeal’s later account records the judge’s emphasis on the delay and the limits of revisiting the earlier order.
Why it matters to adoptees: This case shows that questioning adoption’s legal effects does not necessarily mean rejecting every relationship with an adoptive family. It also records an adoptee’s attempt, decades later, to challenge a decision made during childhood and the legal obstacle posed by the passage of time.
Later Court of Appeal account checked
Read alongside X and Y [2025] EWCA Civ 2 paragraph 50 and [2026] UKSC 13. Original judgment not independently reviewed in full.
Limitations: Captured through the official account in X and Y [2025] EWCA Civ 2 paragraph 50. Original judgment not obtained for full independent review. A 4PB case report dates the decision to 2011; 2013 is the law-report citation year. Exact judgment date left unset pending primary confirmation. No exhaustive later treatment review.
Case details and sources
Adoptee involvement: The adopted person was the applicant, aged 69. Her claim that the adoption should not have been made is distinguished from the court’s decision to refuse permission to appeal.
Remedy sought: Extension of time and permission to appeal refused; adoption remained.
Legal route: Adult adoptee’s application for permission to appeal out of time
Judgments in this case
- [2013] 1 FLR 96 · High Court, Family Division · 2011 · Principal judgment
Sources checked
- Official later account of Re PW (opens in a new tab)
Paragraph 50 · Later judgment - Decision-year cross-check: chambers case report (opens in a new tab)
Heading and case date; secondary source · Commentary - Current Supreme Court authority (opens in a new tab)
Distinction between appeals and welfare-based revocation · Later judgment
Review scope: Capture of facts, outcome and applicant role using listed sources. Captured through the official account in X and Y [2025] EWCA Civ 2 paragraph 50. Original judgment not obtained for full independent review. A 4PB case report dates the decision to 2011; 2013 is the law-report citation year. Exact judgment date left unset pending primary confirmation. No exhaustive later treatment review.
Human verification pending. Entry: CASE-NEW-052.