Adoption Act, 1988
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Evidence to Court. |
4.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, the Court shall not make an order under section 3 (1) without having heard the parents of the child concerned and any other persons who, in the opinion of the Court, ought to be heard by it. | |
(2) Where the parents concerned (or either of them), having been requested to give evidence to the Court at the hearing of an application for an order under section 3 (1), fail or refuse to do so, the Court may, if it so thinks fit, notwithstanding the absence of the evidence of the parents or, as the case may be, of either of them, make the order. | ||
(3) Where the parents concerned (or either of them) fail to respond to such a request as aforesaid, the failure may be taken by the Court, for the purposes of subsection (2), to be a failure by the parents or, as the case may be, by either of them to give evidence to the Court at the hearing concerned. | ||
(4) Notwithstanding subsection (1), where the Court is satisfied— | ||
(a) that the identity of the parents concerned (or of either of them) is not known to the persons applying for an order under section 3 (1) and is not known to the Board and that all appropriate measures have been taken to ascertain that identity, or | ||
(b) that the whereabouts of the parents concerned (or of either of them) at the time of the making of the application for such order, and their whereabouts during the period of 12 months immediately preceding such time, are not known to the parties making the application and are not known to the Board and that all appropriate measures have been taken to ascertain those whereabouts, | ||
the Court may, if it so thinks fit, notwithstanding the absence of the evidence of the parents concerned or, as the case may be, of either of them, make the order. | ||
(5) Notwithstanding subsection (1), where the Court is satisfied that the parents concerned (or either of them) are incapable by reason of mental infirmity of giving reliable evidence to the Court, the Court may dispense with their evidence or that of either of them, as the case may be, on the hearing of an application for an order under section 3 (1) and may, if it so thinks fit, notwithstanding the absence of such evidence, make the order. |