eement or by court order, can only be brought to an 145 end by a court order. It is also open for the birth parent and their partner to apply for a joint residence order under section 8 of the 1989 Act, which will have the effect of giving the partner parental responsibility during the currency of the order. 8.64. Where the child’s birth parent and partner are not married or civil partners, section 4A does not apply, but they may still apply for a joint residence order. The child’s non-resident birth parent will be a party to any application if they have parental responsibility, or if there is any order in force affecting them, for example a contact order. 8.65. Special guardianship is not an appropriate alternative to adoption in ‘partner’ cases, since a special guardianship order made in favour of a birth parent’s partner would prevent that birth parent from exercising their own parental responsibility. 8.66. In some cases, the motivation for the proposed action may arise from anxiety about the child’s position if the birth parent were to die. It may be that sufficient reassurance can be provided by the appointment of a guardian under section 5 of the 1989 Act and couples should be given information about this possibility, and encouraged to take legal advice. Investigation 8.67. In these cases, the likelihood is that, even if the adoption application is not granted, the child will continue to live in the household. The process of ascertaining the information necessary for the completion of the court report is not as rigorous as the assessment needed under the AAR for prospective agency adopters, but the investigation will nevertheless need to cover, as far as possible, all the topics listed in Rule 14.11 and in accordance with Practice Direction 14C in the Rules. 8.68