Adoption in New Zealand
The Adoption Act 1955 established the principle of secrecy , the previous identity of the adopted child was inaccessible and birth parents were not given access to the new identity of their child .The legislation and practice were based upon an assumption that the past should be concealed and the birth mother would forget her ordeal. This specific feature of the present legislation runs counter to the developing trend towards openness in adoption. The opening up of adoption was initiated by adoptees and was first met with strong resistance. Since the 1980s, open adoption in New Zealand has become standard practice , and has been assisted with new legislation to allow access to previously confidential records.Open adoption can range from meeting prior to the adoption, to regular meeting between birth parents to intermittent ongoing contact. Where the degree of contact is decided by the parties involved. New Zealand has been described as having the "leading Western adoption practise with respect to openness. Although widely practised it is not recognised in law and family court judges struggle to reconcile open adoption with the Act- which servers ties with birth parents completely.
Lack of legislative provision puts birthparents in an unequal and powerless situation. It does not allow for social workers to carry out there statutory obligation to report on the suitability of the applicant to adopt or the advisability of the adoption. The United Nations convention on the Rights of the child makes strong statements in favour of open adoption . There is a concern that unfettered jurisdiction could allow new Zealand to be used as a "clearing house" for adoptions. There are also practical difficulties of s3. Many families involved in adoption see the practice in the adoption act, such as the re-registration of birth certificates as an unjustifiable legal fiction There is a need for change in the Adoption Act, as the deeming provision of the legislation create genealogical distortion and more often than not the legal emphasis on secrecy is unrealistic Jurisdiction, Intercountry adoption Section 3 and 17 of the Adoption Act governs jurisdiction and decides whether on not you can adopt a child in New Zealand. It has been argued s3 is too wide and may circumvent more restrictive adoption practices in the child's country of origin. One birth certificate issued with the names of both adoptive and birth parents would also help the open adoption process Increasing the options available may allow some children to be adopted who would not otherwise be placed Secrecy in adoption is now the exception, rather than the rule. It must also be acknowledged that open adoption has become a chosen option by large numbers of people, and the law needs to address this reality Other jurisdictions have made legislative provision for future contact. The first is parliament could retain adoption but modify the legislation so that it reflects contemporary adoption practice, or secondly it might abolish the legal concept of adoption and replace it with a modified version of guardianship, for example a Care of Children Act There are some disadvantages to legislating the open adoption practice, as adoption agreements would be difficult to enforce. This idea of open adoption, which is varying degrees of contact between child, adoptive and birth parents,(r 65, p39) has in the past few years become widely practised. This provides a means of bypassing the delays, checks and safe-guards which are built into the Hague convention adoptions. Legislation would protect both sets of parents and ultimately the child who's access to both families is thereby protected. It is a matter of trust only and solely voluntary, with adoptive parents having the ultimate choice of whether or not contact is maintained and the birth parent having no legal rights to contact at all.
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Acceptance Essays
