Boy's adoption overturned after mum dates prisoner

A two-year-old boy's adoption has been overturned after his adoptive mother failed to disclose she was in a relationship with a prisoner where she worked.

In the Court of Appeal ruling, Lord Justice Peter Jackson said the boy was formally adopted by a married couple in Northumberland in November 2025.

However, the child's former social workers were recently told his adoptive father had moved out in October and his mother had begun a new relationship.

Barristers acting for Gateshead Council said the adoption was "unfair to the child" as it had been based on "mistaken" information.

The judge said the prisoner was in custody for drug offences and had previous convictions for battery and possession of weapons.

Jackson said the prisoner had also been accused of child sex offences, but no action was taken against him.

He was released in March but was returned to prison in April for breaching his licence conditions, after he was arrested over allegations of threatening behaviour and criminal damage at the adoptive mother's home, the judge said.

Social workers also learned the woman was caring for the prisoner's XL bully dog and had twice taken the child to visit the prisoner, who had begun referring to him as his "stepson".

The boy was removed from the mother's care in March and was placed with his adoptive father, before Gateshead Council sought to have the adoption overturned.

Neither his adoptive or birth parents attended the hearing.

His adoptive mother had previously told the council she did not want "any further involvement" with the child.

Jackson said the boy had received a "high standard of care" from his adoptive parents, who social workers said loved him "unconditionally".

"The consequence of each of these errors was that the court acted on a fundamentally mistaken basis," he said.

Jackson said the adoption decision was not the fault of the original family court judge, who made it based on the information before her at the time.

The case will return to the family court to be dealt with at a later date.

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