It happens that our lawyers seek advice on the procedure of termination or cancellation of adoption, for example, when a couple adopts a child, and it subsequently creates a continuous problem: stealing, hooliganism, violation of the law. Therefore, the couple wants to return the child to the orphanage.
We will consider under what conditions, circumstances and in what order this problem can be solved and will carry out de-breeding.
Reasons/ grounds for adoption annulment according to family law in Ukraine:
- adoption violates the interests of the child and in the end it is not provided with education in the family by adoptive parents;
- the adoptive parents had no information about the serious incurable diseases of the child, including mental ones, such as dementia;
- the adopted child and the parents have negative relationships, because of which they cannot live together. As a result, the adoptive parents are deprived of the opportunity to fulfill their parental responsibilities in relation to this child.
According to the law, it is impossible to cancel the adoption of an adult.
However, there are exceptions. If the nature of the behavior of the adopted child or the adoptive parents is illegal, the behavior is a threat to the life or health of any of their family members or themselves, the court will take such a case in the proceedings and will make a decision in this case. Also, the cancellation of the adoption of an adult through the court is possible, if both the adoptive parents and the adopted child wish it, or if one of them files a lawsuit, arguing that there are no family relations between the adopted child and the adoptive parents.
You shouldn’t confuse the adoption annulment and the recognition of adoption invalid. There is a significant difference between the two procedures, namely, at the time of the legal consequences. In the second case, these consequences take place from the very moment of adoption, and not from the date of entry into force of the court decision on the abolition of adoption, as in the first case.
The adoption annulment takes place exclusively in court.
Persons entitled to file a claim in court:
- parents of the adopted child,
- adopter,
- guardian / trustee (if appointed),
- representatives of the guardianship authority,
- prosecutor,
- the adopted child who was fourteen years old.
The time of the termination of relations of adoption will be the date of entry into force of the judgment, and it will terminate all rights and obligations which emerged and acted between the child and the adoptive parents.
The consequence of the adoption annulment will not always be the return of foster children back to the orphanage. If someone of the parents (or both of them) of the adopted child are not deprived of the parental rights, the child can stay with them or one of their relatives. If there is no desire or opportunity, then the child’s fate is decided by the guardianship authorities. When the adoption is canceled, the child can keep the surname, the name and the patronymic, acquired after the adoption procedure. However, if the child wants, it can return the old surname, name and patronymic.
