Adoption Act 2000

Parental responsibility following general consent or dispensing with consent The Secretary has parental responsibility for a child (for purposes other than the purposes of section 52) to the exclusion of all other persons after—

general consent to the adoption of the child has been given by every person whose consent to the adoption of the child is required under this Act, or

the requirement for consent has been dispensed with by the Court.

A person other than the Secretary or a person employed in the Department who witnesses a general consent to the adoption of a child must give the Secretary written notice that it has been given.

The notice is to be given within 7 days after the person witnesses the consent.

Subsection (1) does not apply to a child unless and until the Secretary—

is satisfied that each person who is required to give general consent to the adoption of the child under this Act has given consent or that the Court has dispensed with the requirement for that person to consent, or

Note.

Grounds on which the Court may dispense with consent include that, after reasonable inquiry, the person whose consent is required cannot be found or identified—see section 67.

the Court makes an interim order under section 84 in favour of the Secretary,

whichever first occurs.

Within 21 days after the Secretary is satisfied as referred to in subsection (4), the Secretary may, by instrument in writing, decline parental responsibility for the child.

As soon as practicable after declining parental responsibility, the Secretary must cause a copy of the instrument to be given to each person who consented to the adoption of the child.

Parental responsibility following renunciation of parental responsibility by officer of another State The Secretary takes parental responsibility for a child in place of a corresponding officer who has parental responsibility for the child under a corresponding law if the corresponding officer executes a parental responsibility renunciation instrument.

Subsection (7) applies only if—

any consent to the adoption of the child held by the corresponding officer cannot be lawfully revoked by the person or persons by whom it was given, and

the Secretary is satisfied the child is present in New South Wales, and

the corresponding officer requested the Secretary to accept, and the Secretary by an instrument in writing forwarded to that officer, agreed to accept, parental responsibility for the child before the parental responsibility renunciation instrument was executed.

The Secretary has parental responsibility for purposes other than section 52.

Subsections (1) and (5) do not apply to a child who is under the parental responsibility of the Minister administering the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998.

In this section—

corresponding law means a law of another State that corresponds to this section.

corresponding officer means an officer of another State whose functions correspond to those of the Secretary under this Act.

parental responsibility renunciation instrument means an instrument in writing executed by a corresponding officer renouncing the officer’s parental responsibility for a child under a corresponding law and on execution of which the officer ceases, under that law, to have parental responsibility for the child.