Adoption Act 1993

Subject to this Act and the provisions of any other Territory law that expressly distinguishes between adopted people and other people, on the making of an adoption order, for all purposes—

the adopted person becomes in law a child of the adoptive parents, and the adoptive parents become in law the parents of the adopted person as if the adopted person had been born to the adoptive parents; and

the adopted person ceases to be a child of the birth parents or of any person (a pre-adoption parent) who was an adoptive parent before the making of the adoption order, and any such pre‑adoption parent ceases to be a parent of the adopted person; and

if the order is made in favour of a step-parent—the relationship of the adopted person with the parent living in a domestic partnership with the step-parent is not affected; and

the relationship to one another of all people (including the adopted person and the adoptive parents, birth parents or any former adoptive parent) must be decided on the basis of paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) so far as they are relevant; and

any existing appointment of a person as guardian of the adopted person ceases to have effect; and

any previous adoption of the adopted person (whether under a Territory law or otherwise) ceases to have effect.

However, an adoption order does not exclude any right of inheritance that the adopted person might otherwise have from or through a deceased person if—

1 of the birth or former adoptive parents of an adopted person has died; and

an adoption order is made in favour of a step-parent after that death.

Despite subsection (1), for any law of the Territory relating to a sexual offence, being a law under which the relationship between persons is relevant, an adoption order, or an order discharging an adoption order, must not be taken to cause the cessation of any relationship that would otherwise have existed, and any such relationship is taken to exist in addition to any relationship that exists because of the application of that subsection or because of the discharge of the adoption order.