In the matter of X and Y1, concerned two young women who had returned to live with their mother. Their adopter, supportive of their choice, submitted an application to revoke the adoption orders on their behalf. Their mother supported it. The young women themselves supported it.
It went all the way to the Court of Appeal. What they were asking for was not radical. They were asking, as adults, to have their legal status reflect the actual truth of their lives.
When a child is adopted, the law erases their biological identity and replaces it with a legal one, presented as a win/win, a gift even – for the adopted person and their adopters.
Just as parenthood cannot be undone, the argument goes, adoption cannot simply be reversed. It is this constant reaching for equivalence that defines human adoption.
So: two adult women, unanimous biological and adoptological family support. And the esteemed judges said NO.
Why and how they came to this conclusion is at the heart of adoption practice.