The Tribune

By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

A JUDGE approved a man’s adoption of a teenager shortly before his eighteenth birthday, despite the Attorney General’s Office alleging it was a means to circumvent citizenship laws and the Department of Social Services opposing it due to the boy’s advanced age.

Supreme Court Justice Hope Strachan determined that the Department of Social Services’ own report showed that the applicant loved and cared for the child and wanted what was in his best interest.

She said the applicant, referred to as A.A.H, “ticked all the boxes” and provided all of the necessary documentation required to support his application to adopt the child.

 She said the department’s report was contradictory. The report was positive about the man’s role in the child’s life, but opposed the adoption order without giving a reason other than the child’s age.

 The judge also rejected the Office of the Attorney General’s position, finding that the man was not adopting the boy to secure citizenship for him, “but rather to legally formalize an already existing father-son relationship between the applicant and the infant.” The child, referred to as D.A.M in the judgement, was born to Jamaican parents and moved to The Bahamas in 2012. He had been in the care of the applicant since he was three years old. The applicant sought to adopt him after his mother died a day after giving birth to her fourth child.

 “I am of the view that public policy does not outweigh the welfare of the infant in this matter,” the judge wrote. “There is no indication from the Social Services report that the immigration status of this child had a bearing on the motives of the applicant. Whilst it may seem strange that the adoption is nearing the infant’s birthday, the fact is that the application was started three years ago. In fact, I was surprised by the objection taken by the Department of Social Services even though their assessment of the applicant, his family and ex-girlfriend were favourable.”