Aunt told she can't adopt her sister's four teenagers from Ethiopia

An Ethiopian-born New Zealand citizen has been refused permission to adopt her sister's four teenage children and bring them to Wellington for a better life.

The woman was misguided as to what was in the children's best interests, a High Court judge said.

The woman, 39, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, sent money to help support the children whose parents have not been heard from since about 2013.

The children were aged 19, 18, 16 and 15 years. The woman said she would continue to send money for their care.

They wanted to come to New Zealand but also wanted other family members to come too, including the aunt who looked after them since birth.

It was not clear they had a well informed and good understanding of what moving to New Zealand would entail, Justice Jan-Marie Doogue said in a High Court decision.

The Family Court had refused adoption, in part on the grounds that a blood-link was not proved, even to the standard of balance of probabilities.

By the time the case went to the High Court, which heard the woman's appeal, DNA tests had shown a familial link. Taken along with other evidence, including a social worker's interviews with the children in Ethiopia, the judge accepted their identity was probably proved.

The children were living in a household of about 15 people, sharing a room with their aunt and her child. The two younger children have not attended school.

Only basic needs such as food and shelter were met but the court was told they had a strong bond with their aunt who was more like their mother.

"Education and economic advantage, alone, are insufficient to amount to best interests of the children and such advantages can be completely undermined by unhappiness and distress, caused by separation from known, loving attachment figures and language and custom," the judge said.

She dismissed the appeal against the Family Court refusal to grant the adoptions, but did not think the adoption application was a cynical or calculated attempt to circumvent immigration law.

But the judge believed the New Zealand aunt was misguided about what was in the children's best interests.

Given their ages there was a risk they would be vulnerable and not settle easily in New Zealand, and they would have the distress of leaving their "primary attachment figure".

There was no evidence that the eldest child understood that her New Zealand aunt would want her to look after her two young children as well as her siblings, so that the aunt could return to work.

A person can be adopted if they are under the age of 20.

The woman came to New Zealand in 2009, several years after her husband had come as a refugee. The couple successfully adopted five children from her husband's extended family who arrived in 2013.

Their marriage did not last however. Her former husband and the children now live in Australia, the court was told.

The woman has a new partner.

She became a New Zealand citizen in 2015

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