Commentary on Sections Part 1 - Adoption Chapter 6 - Adoptions with a Foreign Element Section 82: Restriction on bringing children in
Section 82 imposes restrictions on British residents bringing or causing someone else to bring a child who is habitually resident outside the United Kingdom, any of the Channel Islands or Isle of Man into the United Kingdom with the intention of adopting the child in the United Kingdom, unless the person complies with prescribed requirements and meets prescribed conditions. It also makes it a criminal offence for a British resident to bring or cause someone else to bring a child habitually resident outside the British Islands who they have adopted within the last twelve months into the United Kingdom, unless they comply with prescribed requirements and meets prescribed conditions.
It is intended that regulations will require the British resident to be assessed and approved as suitable to adopt by an adoption agency, including a Great Britain adoption agency, prior to bringing a child into the United Kingdom (subsection (4)).
The restrictions in this section do not apply if the child is intended to be adopted under a Convention adoption order (subsection (2)), as the provisions in the Hague Convention will apply in such circumstances.
Regulations may be made to apply any provision of Chapter 3 of this Act which refers to adoption orders with or without modifications (subsection (6)) and that if a notice of intention to adopt has been given, the regulations may impose functions in respect of the child on the authority to which the notice was given.
A person guilty of an offence under section 82 will be liable on summary conviction to up to six months' imprisonment or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum or both, or, in the event of being convicted on indictment, to up to twelve months' imprisonment or a fine, or both (subsections (7) and (8)).