Section 17
Power to make interim orders
Upon any application for an adoption order, the Court may postpone the determination of the application and may make an interim order (which shall not be deemed to be an adoption order within the meaning of this Act) giving the custody of the child to the applicant for a period not less than six months and not exceeding two years by way of a probationary period upon such terms as regards provision for the maintenance and education and supervision of the welfare of the child and otherwise as the Court may think fit.
(2)
An interim order may include such terms as regards the exercise of supervision by the guardian ad litem or otherwise as the
Court may think fit and shall be served on the guardian ad litem and on the Director General of Social Welfare, unless he or any officer of the Social Welfare Department has been appointed guardian ad litem.
(3)
All such consents as are required to an adoption order shall be necessary to any interim order, but subject to a like power on the part of the Court to dispense with any such consent.
(4)
In assessing the period of probation to be given as in subsection (1), the Court shall give due consideration to any period that the child may have already spent in the custody of the applicants as a result of a de facto adoption or otherwise.
(5)
During the probationary period the guardian ad litem of any child in respect of whom an interim order has been made may at any
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time apply to a Court for an order to remove a child from a detrimental environment.
(6)
An interim order shall not be made in any case where the making of an adoption order would be unlawful under this Act.