The HSE is entitled to bring proceedings aimed at having an unmarried father, who has been jailed for life for the murder of his partner, removed as guardian of their child, the High Court has ruled.
A senior social worker with the HSE had initiated District Court proceedings to have the man removed as guardian with a view to having the child adopted by foster carers. This was because under the Adoption Acts a guardian may block an adoption by withholding consent.
The father objected both to being removed as guardian and to the proposed adoption, and the District Court referred legal issues to the High Court. By court order nothing may be published that would identify the parties.
From 2009 the HSE raised the issue of possible adoption of the child but the father indicated he was opposed to any such application. When an adoption application was made in 2011, the father repeated his objections.
The principal social worker later in 2011 applied to have the father removed as guardian. Mr Justice George Birmingham ruled the social worker has the necessary legal standing to apply to have the man removed as guardian.
