Untitled document

Adoption Amendment Act 2013

No. 25 of 2013

table of provisions

Section  Page

1Purpose

2Commencement

3Definitions

4New section 73A inserted

73ARegistration of adoption of a child from a Convention country to Australia

5New Division 1A of Part VI inserted

Division 1A—Contact statements by adult adopted persons

90AContact statement by adult adopted person about
contact with natural parents

90BDuration of contact statements

6Natural parent's right to information about adult adopted
person

7Application to Court

8New section 127A inserted

127AContact contrary to current contact statement
prohibited

9Repeal of amending Act

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Endnotes

Adoption Amendment Act 2013

No. 25 of 2013

[Assented to 15 May 2013]

The Parliament of Victoria enacts:

1Purpose

The purpose of this Act is to amend the Adoption Act 1984—

(a)to remove the requirement for obtaining an adult adopted person's consent before giving identifying information to the adopted person's natural parents; and

(b)to provide for adult adopted persons to make contact statements about their wishes for contact with their natural parents; and

(c)to enable a birth certificate to be issued for a child adopted in a Convention country, whose adoption is recognised under section 69D of the Act.

2Commencement

(1)Subject to subsection (2), this Act comes into operation on a day or days to be proclaimed.

(2)If a provision of this Act does not come into operation before 1 July 2013, it comes into operation on that day.

3Definitions

In section 4(1) of the Adoption Act 1984 insert the following definitions—

"contact statement means a statement referred to in section 90A(1);

current contact statement means a contact statement that is in force under section 90B;".

4New section 73A inserted

After section 73 of the Adoption Act 1984 insert—

73ARegistration of adoption of a child from a Convention country" to Australia

(1)If the adoption of a child is recognised under section 69D, subject to subsection (2), the State Central Authority must cause a memorandum, in accordance with the prescribed form, of the adoption and a copy of the adoption compliance certificate to be sent to the Registrar.

(2)If the adoption recognised under section 69D became effective before the commencement of section 4 of the Adoption Amendment Act 2013, the State Central Authority is not required to cause the memorandum and copy of the adoption compliance certificate to be sent under subsection (1) unless requested in writing to do so by—

(a)the adoptive parent or adoptive parents of the child; or

(b)if the child has attained the age of 18 years, the child.

(3)The Registrar must register the adoption by—

(a)endorsing on the memorandum the official number and placing the memorandum in a Register of Adoptions kept by the Registrar; and

(b)making an entry in the Adopted Children Register kept by the Registrar of the prescribed particulars ascertained from the memorandum.".

5New Division 1A of Part VI inserted

After Division 1 of Part VI of the Adoption Act 1984 insert—

Division 1A—Contact statements by adult adopted persons"

90AContact statement by adult adopted person about contact with natural parents

(1)An adopted person who has attained the age of 18 years may give the Secretary a written statement stating the person's wishes about being contacted by a specified person who is a natural parent of the adopted person.

(2)A contact statement must be in the form approved by the Secretary and signed by the adopted person.

(3)A contact statement may state that—

(a)the adopted person does not wish to be contacted by a specified person;

(b)the adopted person wishes any contact with a specified person occur only in a specified way.

90BDuration of contact statements

(1)Subject to this section, a contact statement continues in force for 5 years after—

(a)the contact statement is given to the Secretary; or

(b)the contact statement is extended under subsection (2).

(2)An adopted person may extend a contact statement by notice in writing given to the Secretary.

(3)A contact statement ceases to have effect if—

(a)the adopted person revokes the contact statement by notice in writing given to the Secretary; or

(b)the adopted person dies.".

6Natural parent's right to information about adult adopted person

For section 96(2) of the Adoption Act 1984 substitute—

"(2)If the adopted person has specified the applicant in a current contact statement, the relevant authority must not give the applicant any information referred to in subsection (1)(b) unless the relevant authority has disclosed the adopted person's wishes stated in the statement about contact with the applicant.".

7Application to Court

In section 99(1)(a) of the Adoption Act 1984 omit "96(1)(b),".

8New section 127A inserted

After section 127 of the Adoption Act 1984 insert—

127AContact contrary to current contact statement prohibited"

(1)In this section—

relevant person means a person specified in a current contact statement as a person by whom an adopted person does not wish to be contacted.

(2)A person who is a natural parent of an adopted person and who knows that he or she is a relevant person must not intentionally—

(a)contact or attempt to contact the adopted person; or

(b)procure another person to contact or arrange contact with the adopted person—

unless the contact is a continuation of, or of a similar kind to, contact that the person had had with the adopted person before the person knew of the current contact statement.

Penalty:60 penalty units.

(3)Subsection (2) is not contravened if the adopted person initiated the contact with the person.".

9Repeal of amending Act

This Act is repealed on 1 July 2014.

Note

The repeal of this Act does not affect the continuing operation of the amendments made by it (see section 15(1) of the Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984).

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Endnotes

Minister's second reading speech—

Legislative Assembly: 6 March 2013

Legislative Council: 18 April 2013

The long title for the Bill for this Act was "A Bill for an Act to amend the Adoption Act 1984 and for other purposes."