## Facts

- Eleanor P. and Martin S., California residents, adopted M.S., a minor child, through a Ukrainian court decree while in Ukraine.
- The adoptive parents returned to California with M.S. and did not complete a California readoption or obtain any California adoption judgment.
- After returning, M.S. was diagnosed with significant disabilities, including spastic cerebral palsy and developmental delays, requiring extensive care.
- The parents petitioned the Yolo County Superior Court to vacate the adoption and terminate the parent-child relationship created by the Ukrainian decree.
- The State Department of Social Services opposed the petition, arguing California courts lacked statutory authority to vacate an adoption decree issued by a foreign court.
- The superior court denied the petition for lack of jurisdiction/statutory authority, and the parents appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether California’s statutory procedure for vacating an adoption decree authorizes a superior court to vacate an adoption granted by a foreign court and never readopted in California.
2. Whether the statutory requirement that the petition be filed in “the court that granted the adoption” limits California courts’ subject-matter authority to California-granted adoptions.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal affirmed the order denying the petition to vacate.
- The court held the superior court lacked statutory authority to vacate an adoption decree issued by a Ukrainian court.
- The court interpreted the statutory phrase “the court that granted the adoption” as limiting the vacation remedy to adoptions granted by the California court system.
- Because no California adoption decree existed, there was no California judgment to vacate.

## Legal Principles

- A court’s power to vacate an adoption decree is strictly statutory; absent statutory authorization, a California court may not undo an adoption.
- Under the adoption-vacation statute (Fam. Code § 9100), a petition to vacate must be brought in the court that granted the adoption, which limits the remedy to California-granted adoption decrees.
- When adoptive parents rely solely on a foreign adoption decree and do not obtain a California readoption judgment, California’s statutory vacation procedure does not provide a mechanism to terminate the foreign-created parent-child status.
- Expansion of jurisdiction to vacate foreign adoption decrees is a legislative, not judicial, function.

## Conclusion

The Court of Appeal held that California’s statutory adoption-vacation procedure applies only to adoptions granted by a California court, so a superior court lacks authority to vacate an adoption created solely by a foreign decree that was never readopted in California.


Eleanor P. v. State Dep’t of Soc. Servs. (In re Adoption of M.S.), 103 Cal. Rptr. 3d 715 (Cal. Ct. App. 2010)