Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2021

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Amendment of section 2 of Act of 1995

5. Section 2(1) of the Act of 1995 is amended—

(a) by the insertion of the following definitions:

“ ‘Act of 2010’ means the Civil Partnership and Certain Rights and Obligations of Cohabitants Act 2010 ;

‘civil partner’ shall be construed in accordance with section 3 of the Act of 2010;

‘cohabitant’ shall be construed in accordance with section 172(1) of the Act of 2010;

‘cohabiting couple’ has the same meaning as it has in the Adoption Act 2010 ;

‘couple’, in relation to the definition of ‘qualifying adopter’, means a married couple, a couple who are civil partners of each other or a cohabiting couple;

‘qualifying adopter’ means—

(a) where a child is placed, or is to be placed, in the care of a couple (of whom neither is the mother or father of the child), with a view to the making of an adoption order, or to the effecting of a foreign adoption or following any such adoption, the member of the couple who is—

(i) an employee, and

(ii) chosen by the couple to be the qualifying adopter for the purposes of this Act,

(b) in any other case, an employee, who is not a surviving parent in relation to the child, in whose care a child has been placed or is to be placed with a view to the making of an adoption order, or to the effecting of a foreign adoption or following any such adoption;

‘surviving parent’ means an employee in whose care a child has been placed or is to be placed with a view to the making of an adoption order, or to the effecting of a foreign adoption or following any such adoption, where his or her spouse, civil partner or cohabitant, as the case may be, was the qualifying adopter in relation to the child and the qualifying adopter concerned has died;”,

(b) in the definition of “adopting parent”, by the substitution of “qualifying adopter or surviving parent” for “employed adopting mother, adopting father or sole male adopter”, and

(c) in the definition of “Minister”, by the substitution of “Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth;” for “Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform;”.