Registration
41 Registration
The Registrar must, on receipt of notice of the adoption of a child—
if the child's birth is registered in this State—add a note to the entry in the register relating to the child containing the names of the persons who are in contemplation of law the parents of the child following the adoption; or
in any other case—make an entry containing—
a statement of the date and place of birth of the child;
and
the names of—
the birth parents of the child (if known); and
the persons who are in contemplation of law the parents of the child following the adoption.
Subject to this section, the Registrar must not allow any person access to information contained in an entry in the register of births relating to an adopted person who is less than 18 years of age.
If the parties to an adoption agree (whether at the time of the making of the adoption order or at a later date) that information in an entry in the register of births (including a cancelled entry) relating to an adopted person may be accessed before the adopted person turns 18, the parties may give the Chief Executive a notice indicating such agreement (a consent notice).
The Registrar may—
if the Chief Executive has given the Registrar a consent notice, allow a party to an adoption access to information contained in the entry in the register of births relating to an adopted person who is less than 18 years of age (including a cancelled entry); or
if the Registrar has not been given a consent notice—
allow access by the adopted person or the adoptive parents to the information contained in the entry other than—
information in a cancelled entry; or
without limiting subsubparagraph (A), information relating to the birth parents or the name of the adopted person before the adoption;
and
allow access by the birth parents to the following information contained in the entry (whether or not the information is contained in a cancelled entry):
the names of the birth parents;
the name of the adopted person before the adoption;
the statement of the date and place of birth of the adopted person.
A consent notice—
has effect until the adopted person attains the age of
18 years, unless revoked before that date; and
may be revoked at any time by any party to the adoption;
and
must be given or revoked in a manner and form approved by the Chief
Executive.
Subject to section 41A, the Registrar—
may allow any person access to information relating to an adopted person who is aged 18 years or more contained in an entry (other than a cancelled entry) in the register of births; or
in the case of any such information in a cancelled entry—may allow access to the information—
by the adopted person or a birth parent of the adopted person;
or
by any other person on the authorisation of the Chief
Executive.
The Chief Executive must not give an authorisation under subsection (6)(b)(ii) if the Chief Executive is of the opinion that to do so would give rise to a serious risk to the life or safety of a person.
If the Registrar—
receives from the Chief Executive a statement of wishes;
and
allows access to information relating to the person who gave the statement of wishes to the Chief Executive, the Registrar must ensure that, at the time of allowing access, the statement of wishes is given to the person to whom access is allowed.
In this section—
cancelled entry means any entry formerly made in the register of births relating to an adopted person that was cancelled by the
Registrar before the relevant day;
relevant day means the day on which section 31 of the Adoption (Review) Amendment Act 2016 comes into operation.
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