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Section 14: Adoption by married couple.

Adoption Act 1976 · 1976 c. 36View on legislation.gov.uk

This provision is repealed
It is retained for historical reference and may not reflect the law currently in force.

Part II: Adoption Orders

REPEALED on 2005-12-30 by Adoption and Children Act 2002.

The text below is from the dated revised snapshot immediately preceding this status change. It is historical and is not current law. View the historical source.

An adoption order shall not be made on the application of more than one person except in the circumstances specified in subsections (1A) and (1B).

An adoption order may be made on the application of a married couple where both the husband and the wife have attained the age of 21 years.

An adoption order may be made on the application of a married couple where—

the husband or the wife—
is the father or mother of the child; and
has attained the age of 18 years:

and

his or her spouse has attained the age of 21 years.

An adoption order shall not be made on the application of a married couple unless—

at least one of them is domiciled in a part of the United Kingdom, or in the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, or
the application is for a Convention adoption order and the requirements of regulations under section 17 are complied with.

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About this text

This legislation text comes from legislation.gov.uk. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. These source and reuse terms cover the legislation text, not Remedy's commentary.

Reuse reviewed 21 August 2026 under Open Government Licence v3.0.