Adoption Act 2000

The Court must not make a consent dispense order on the application of any person unless notice of the application has been given to the person whose consent is sought to be dispensed with at least 14 days before the order is made.

Subsection (1) does not apply if—

the person cannot, after reasonable inquiry, be found or identified, or

the person is in such a physical or mental condition as not to be capable of properly considering the question of whether he or she should give consent and his or her physical or mental health would, in the opinion of the Court, be detrimentally affected if he or she were to receive notice of the application, or

the Court considers that in the particular circumstances of the case it is desirable to make an order without notice of the application having been given.

The Court must not revoke any consent dispense order on application of a person unless not less than 14 days’ notice of the application has been given—

in the case of an application for revocation made by a person other than the Secretary—to the Secretary, and

in the case of an application for revocation made by a person other than the principal officer who applied for the consent dispense order—to the principal officer, or

if an application has been made to the Court for the adoption of the child by the parent (including the mother or father) or a relative of the child (whether alone or jointly with another person)—to the applicant or applicants.