Title and commencement1

InterpretationC12

• Definition rep. by 1995 NI 2

• “adoption agency” shall be construed in accordance with Article 3(3); and for the purposes of Articles 11F3,13, 17 to 22, 24 and 28 to 32 includes an adoption agency within the meaning of section 1 of the Adoption Act 1976F4 (adoption agencies in England and Wales) and F5section 119(1)(a) of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 (interpretation);

• F6“adoption order”

  1. a

     means an order under Article 12(1);

  2. b

     in Articles 12(3) and (4), 17 to 20, 25(3), 28, 29 and 31 to 33 includes an order under section 12 of the Adoption Act 1976 or F7section 29 or 30 of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 (adoption orders in England and Wales and Scotland);

  3. c

     in Articles 28, 29 and 31 to 33 includes an order under Article 57, section 55 of the Adoption Act 1976 or F8section 59 of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 (adoption by persons domiciled outside Northern Ireland or England and Wales or Scotland);

• “adoption society” means a body of persons whose functions consist of or include the making of arrangements for the adoption of children;

• “adoption rules” means rules of court and county court rules;

• F9 “ appropriate voluntary organisation ” means a voluntary organisation which is an adoption society in respect of which a person is registered under Part III of the Health and Personal Social Services (Quality, Improvement and Regulation) (Northern Ireland) Order 2003;

• “authorised court”, as respects an application for an order relating to a child, means—

  1. a

     in the case of an application for an adoption order or for an order freeing a child for adoption where the child is not in Northern Ireland when the application is made, the High Court;

  2. b

     in the case of an application under Article 30—

     1. i

        where there is pending in respect of the child an application for an adoption order or an order freeing him for adoption, the court in which that application is pending;

     2. ii

        in any other case, the High Court or the county court within whose division the applicant lives;

  3. c

     in any other case where the child is in Northern Ireland when the application is made—

     1. i

        the High Court;

     2. ii

        the county court within whose division the child is, and, in the case of an application for an order freeing a child for adoption, any county court within whose division a parent or guardian of the child is;

     3. iii

        any other county court prescribed by county court rules;

• “Board” means a Health and Social Services Board established under Article 16 of the Health and Personal Social Services (Northern Ireland) Order 1972F10;

• “child”, except where used to express a relationship, means a person who has not attained the age of 18 years;

• F11“the Convention” means the Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in respect of Intercountry Adoption, concluded at the Hague on 29th May 1993;

• “Convention adoption” means an adoption effected under the law of a Convention country outside the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man and certified in pursuance of Article 23(1) of the Convention;

• “Convention adoption order” means an adoption order made in accordance with Article 16A;

• “Convention country” means any country or territory in which the Convention is in force;

• “the Department” means the Department of Health and Social Services;

• “existing”, in relation to a statutory provision or other instrument, means one passed or made at any time before the commencement of Part V;

• F12“guardian” has the same meaning as in the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995;

• F13“ F14HSC trust” shall be construed in accordance with paragraph (2A);

• “notice” means a notice in writing;

• F15“order freeing a child for adoption” means an order under Article 17(1) or 18(1) and in Articles 28(2) and 58A(1) includes an order under section 18 of the Adoption Act 1976 F16a Scottish permanence order which includes provision granting authority for the child to be adopted;

• F11“overseas adoption” means an adoption which is an overseas adoption for the purposes of the Adoption Act 1976 or F17section 67(1) of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007;

• F18“parent” means, in relation to a child, any parent who has parental responsibility for the child under the Children (Northern Ireand) Order 1995;

• “parental responsibility” and “parental responsibility agreement” have the same meaning as in the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995;

• Definition rep. by 1995 NI 2

• F19“prescribed” in Articles 4,F11 16A, 58ZA 33 and 59 means prescribed by regulations made by the Department, inF20 ArticlesF3250(4) and (6), 53(3B) and (3D), 54 and 54A means prescribed by regulations made by the Department of Finance and Personnel and elsewhere means prescribed by adoption rules;

• F21. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

• “registration district” means the local government district or, where a birth took place before the 1st October 1973, the district of the Superintendent Registrar and Registrar of Births and Deaths within the meaning of the Births and Deaths Registration Act (Northern Ireland) 1967F22;

• Definition rep. by SR 1993/494

• “relative” in relation to a child means a grandparent, brother, sister, uncle or aunt, whether of the full blood or half-blood or byF23 marriage or civil partnership and includes,F24. . . any person who would be a relative within the meaning of this definition ifF24 Article 155 of the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 applied to this definition;

• F25 “ Scottish permanence order ” means a permanence order under section 80 of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 (including a deemed permanence order having effect by virtue of article 13(1), 14(2), 17(1) or 19(2) of the Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007 (Commencement No.  4, Transitional and Savings Provisions) Order 2009 ( S.S.I.  2009/267));

• “statutory provision” has the meaning given by section 1(f) of the Interpretation Act (Northern Ireland) 1954F26;

• F27“upbringing” has the same meaning as in the Children (Northern Ireland) Order 1995;

• “voluntary organisation” means a body other than a public or local authority the activities of which are not carried on for profit.