Adoption Act 1988 (Tas)

Adoption Act 1988

An Act to amend and consolidate the law relating to adoption, to repeal the Adoption of Children Act 1968 , and to make consequential amendments to the Registration of Births and Deaths Act 1895 [Royal Assent 10 November 1988]

Be it enacted by His Excellency the Governor of Tasmania, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and House of Assembly, in Parliament assembled, as follows:

PART I - Preliminary

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Adoption Act 1988 .

2. Commencement (1) This section and sections 1 and 3 shall commence on the day on which this Act receives the Royal Assent. (2) Except as provided in subsection (1) , the several provisions of this Act shall commence on such day or days as may be fixed by proclamation.

3. Interpretation (1) In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears – adopted person means a person – (a) an order for whose adoption was made under this Act or any corresponding previous enactment; or (b) an order for whose adoption was made, whether before or after the commencement of this section, in a place outside Tasmania if the birth of that person has been registered in Tasmania; adoption order means an order for the adoption of a person made under this Act; agency means a welfare organization that is, or has been at any time, an approved agency; agreement country means a prescribed overseas jurisdiction within the meaning of the Family Law (Bilateral Agreements–Intercountry Adoption) Regulations 1998 of the Commonwealth, as amended from time to time; approved agency means – (a) a welfare organization approved by the Minister as an adoption agency under Division 1 of Part II ; or (b) a welfare organization that, immediately before the commencement of this section, was approved as a private adoption agency within the meaning of the repealed Act – so long as that approval is not revoked or suspended under section 13 ; approved counsellor means a person who is for the time being approved as a counsellor under section 4 , and includes a person who is for the time being approved as a counsellor under a law of another State or a Territory corresponding to this Act; child means – (a) a person who has not attained the age of 18 years; or (b) a person who has attained that age in respect of whom an adoption order is sought; contact veto means a contact veto referred to in section 90(3)(c) ; convention country has the meaning given by section 3A ; country includes a territorial unit or other part of a country; court means the Magistrates Court (Children's Division); disposition of property includes the grant or exercise of a power of appointment in respect of property; the former register of adoptions means the register of adoptions formerly kept by the Registrar-General for the purposes of the Adoption of Children Act 1920 ; function includes duty; guardian, in relation to a child, includes – (a) a person who under a law of the Commonwealth or a State or Territory, is, or is deemed to be, the guardian of the child, to the exclusion of, or in addition to, a parent or other guardian; and (b) in the case of a guardian of a non-citizen child under the Immigration (Guardianship of Children) Act 1946 of the Commonwealth, a person to whom the performance or exercise of any functions or powers as a guardian are delegated under that Act; Hague convention means the Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption made at The Hague on 29 May 1993, as amended from time to time; interim order means – (a) an interim order made and in force under Division 3 of Part III ; or (b) an interim order made under the repealed Act and in force immediately before the commencement of section 120 ; natural parent, in relation to an adopted person, means – (a) a person who is named in the entry relating to the adopted person in a register of births, whether in Tasmania or in a place outside Tasmania, as a parent of the adopted person; (b) a man who is declared to be the father of the adopted person under a declaration of paternity in force under section 10 of the Status of Children Act 1974 , if a copy of the declaration is filed in the office of the Registrar under section 9 (3) of that Act ; (c) (d) a man who is named in an instrument filed in the office of the Registrar under section 9 (1) of the Status of Children Act 1974 that acknowledges that he is the father of the adopted person; or (e) in relation to an application under section 83 , 84 , or 90 , a man who satisfies a relevant authority that there is evidence that the man is the father of the adopted person; natural relative, in relation to an adopted person, means a grandparent, brother, sister, uncle, aunt or lineal descendant of the adopted person, where the relationship is of the whole blood or half-blood; non-citizen child has the same meaning as in the Immigration (Guardianship of Children) Act 1946 of the Commonwealth; non-convention or non-agreement country means a country other than – (a) Australia; and (b) New Zealand; and (c) a convention country; and (d) an agreement country; principal officer, in relation to an approved agency, means the person nominated in an application made by the agency under section 10 or under the repealed Act as its principal officer and includes the person, if any, nominated as the deputy principal officer of that agency in any such application; property includes an interest in property; register means the register maintained under Part 7 of the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1999 ; Registrar means the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages; relative, in relation to a child, means a grandparent, brother, sister, uncle, or aunt of the child, whether the relationship is of the whole blood or half-blood or by affinity and notwithstanding that the relationship depends on the adoption of a person; relevant authority, in relation to an application under Part VI , means – (a) the Secretary; or (b) where the application relates to information contained in records, or a copy of a birth certificate, in the possession, or under the control, of an agency, that agency; the repealed Act means the Adoption of Children Act 1968 ; Secretary means the Secretary of the Department; the special record means the special record formerly kept under section 22F of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act 1895 and continued in force under section 63 (1) of this Act; spouse includes the other party to a significant relationship which is the subject of a deed of relationship registered under Part 2 of the Relationships Act 2003 ; Territory means a Territory of the Commonwealth. (2) The definitions of "natural parent" and "natural relative" in subsection (1) are not affected by the provisions of this Act relating to the effect of adoption orders. (3) Where – (a) an adoption order has been made in favour of one person as mentioned in section 19 , 20 , or 21 ; or (b) an application under this Act for such an order has been made, or is proposed – references in this Act to adoptive parents or prospective adoptive parents shall be read as including references to an adoptive parent or prospective adoptive parent, as the case may require. (4) A reference in this Act to an article of the Hague convention is a reference to that convention as made on 29 May 1993.