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This Act may be cited as the Adoption Act 1994.
The provisions of this Act come into operation on such day as is, or days as are respectively, fixed by proclamation.
3. Paramount considerations when administering Act etc.
The paramount considerations to be taken into account in the administration of this Act are —
the welfare and best interests of a child who is an adoptee or a prospective adoptee; and
the principle that adoption is a service for a child who is an adoptee or a prospective adoptee; and
the adoption of a child should occur only in circumstances where there is no other appropriate alternative for the child.
It is acknowledged that adoption is not part of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Island culture and that therefore the adoption of a child who is an Aboriginal person or a Torres Strait Islander should occur only in circumstances where there is no other appropriate alternative for that child.
[Section 3 inserted: No. 8 of 2003 s. 4.]
In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears —
Aboriginal person means a person who is a descendant of Aboriginal people of Australia;
access, in relation to information, includes the inspection of a document containing the information and the receipt of a document or extract or copy of a document that contains the information;
adoptee means a person who is adopted under an adoption order;
adoption applications committee means the committee appointed under section 12;
adoption authority means a person, body or office in an overseas jurisdiction responsible for approving the adoption of children;
adoption certificate, in relation to an adoption, means a certificate or other document issued by an adoption authority in the overseas jurisdiction in which the child to whom the certificate relates was habitually resident before being adopted, stating that —
the adoption took place in accordance with the laws of that overseas jurisdiction; and
the CEO, or a person or a delegate of a person whose functions in another State or a Territory correspond with those of the CEO under this Act, agreed that the adoption may proceed;
adoption compliance certificate means a certificate that is referred to in Article 23 of the Hague Convention;
adoption order means an order for the adoption of —
a child under section 68(2); or
an adult under section 69(1); or
a child under section 78A(2);
adoption plan has the meaning given by section 46(2), whether the provisions of the plan are agreed between the parties to the plan, determined by the Court or included in the plan under section 70(2) or 76(4);
adoption service means any one of the things referred to in section 8(1);
adoptive parent means a person who adopts, or 2 persons who jointly adopt, another person under an adoption order;
Australian citizen means a person who is an Australian citizen under the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 (Commonwealth);
birth parent means, in relation to a child or adoptee —
the mother of the child or adoptee; and
the father, or a parent under the Artificial Conception Act 1985 section 6A, of the child or adoptee;
carer, in relation to a child, means a person with whom the child lives and who, either alone or jointly with another person, has the daily care of the child;
Central Authority means an authority designated under Article 6 of the Hague Convention for a Convention country;
CEO means the chief executive officer of the Department;
child means a person who is less than 18 years of age; and in the absence of positive evidence as to age, means a person who is apparently less than 18 years of age;
Class 1 offence has the meaning given in the Working with Children (Screening) Act 2004 section 7(1);
Class 2 offence has the meaning given in the Working with Children (Screening) Act 2004 section 7(2);
Commonwealth Central Authority has the same meaning as it has in the Family Law (Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption) Regulations 1998 of the Commonwealth;
competent authority means an authority of a Convention country that has power to issue an adoption compliance certificate and that has been notified to the depository of the Hague Convention under Article 23.2 of the Convention;
contact includes a communication, or attempted communication, by any means including through another person;
contact and mediation licensee means a person who holds a licence provided for by Division 5 of Part 4;
contact veto means a statement that was registered under Part 4 Division 4 before the veto cut off day by which a person forbids another person to contact the first‑mentioned person;
conviction has the meaning given in the Working with Children (Screening) Act 2004 section 8;
country includes a state, province or other territory that is one of 2 or more such entities that together form a country;
Court means the Family Court of Western Australia;
Department means the department of the Public Service principally assisting the Minister in the administration of this Act;
document includes any tape, disc or other device or medium on which information is recorded or stored mechanically, photographically, electronically or otherwise;
effective consent has the meaning given by section 18;
Hague Convention means the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in respect of Intercountry Adoption signed at The Hague on 29 May 1993, a copy of the English text of which is set out in Schedule 2B;
identifying information means any information from which the identity of a person may be ascertained;
lineal relative, in relation to a person, means each of the following people —
the person’s parent or remoter lineal ancestor;
the person’s child or remoter lineal descendant;
the person’s sibling of the whole or half blood,
whether the relationship is established by, or traced through, marriage, a written law or a natural relationship;
medical practitioner means a person registered under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (Western Australia) in the medical profession;
mother means, in relation to a child or adoptee, the woman who gave birth to the child or adoptee;
overseas jurisdiction means a country prescribed as an overseas jurisdiction;
parental responsibility means, in relation to a child, all the duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which, by law, parents have in relation to children;
party to an adoption means —
in relation to a proposed adoption —
the prospective adoptee; and
the prospective adoptee’s birth parents; and
the prospective adoptive parent;
and
in relation to an adoption —
the adoptee; and
the adoptee’s birth parents; and
the adoptee’s adoptive parent;
pending charge has the meaning given in the Working with Children (Screening) Act 2004 section 4;
private adoption agency means a body corporate which holds a licence provided for by Division 2 of Part 2;
Registrar means the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages;
relative, in relation to a person, means the person’s —
grandparent; or
sibling; or
uncle or aunt,
whether the relationship is of the whole or half blood, established by, or traced through, marriage, a written law or a natural relationship;
representative, in relation to a child means, the child’s representative appointed under section 134(1);
revocation period means the period under section 22, within which a consent to an adoption may be revoked;
State Central Authority means the person appointed under section 134A to be the Central Authority for the State of Western Australia for the purpose of Article 6.2 of the Hague Convention;
step‑parent means, in relation to a person, another person who —
is not a birth parent or adoptive parent of the first‑mentioned person; and
is married to, or the de facto partner of, the first‑mentioned person’s birth parent or adoptive parent;
Torres Strait Islander means a person who is a descendant of the indigenous inhabitants of the Torres Strait Islands;
veto cut off day means the day fixed under section 2(1) of the Adoption Amendment Act (No. 2) 2003 1.
A reference in this Act to a married person is a reference to —
a person who is married; or
[(b) deleted]
an Aboriginal person or a Torres Strait Islander who is regarded by the community in which the person lives as being married in accordance with the customs or rules of the community.
A reference in this Act to a Convention country is, subject to Article 45 of the Hague Convention, a reference to —
a country specified in column 2 in Schedule 2 to the Family Law (Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption) Regulations 1998 of the Commonwealth;
any other country for which the Hague Convention has entered into force, other than —
Australia; and
a country in respect of which Australia has raised an objection under Article 44 of the Hague Convention.
[Section 4 amended: No. 57 of 1997 s. 17; No. 41 of 1997 s. 4; No. 40 of 1998 s. 6(2); No. 7 of 1999 s. 4 and 8; No. 3 of 2002 s. 6; No. 8 of 2003 s. 5; No. 65 of 2003 s. 12; No. 34 of 2004 Sch. 2 cl. 2(2) and (8); No. 21 of 2008 s. 638(2); No. 22 of 2008 Sch. 3 cl. 1; No. 35 of 2010 s. 23; No. 15 of 2012 s. 4; No. 9 of 2022 s. 424; No. 47 of 2022 s. 53.]
The presumptions of parentage set out in Part 5 Division 11 Subdivision 3 of the Family Court Act 1997 apply when considering, for the purposes of this Act, who is —
a parent of a person who is a prospective adoptee; or
a birth parent of a person who is an adoptee.
[Section 4A inserted: No. 8 of 2003 s. 6.]
This Act binds the Crown.
The CEO is to conduct adoption services and may delegate that function to officers of the Department or such other persons who the CEO thinks are suitable.
An adoption service is conducted by a delegate of the CEO only if the person conducting the adoption service is authorised in writing by the CEO to conduct the adoption service, and the adoption service is —
conducted for the purpose or case that is specified in the authority; and
in accordance with any condition or restriction imposed by the authority.
[Section 6 amended: No. 34 of 2004 Sch. 2 cl. 2(8).]
Adoption services may be conducted by the birth parent of a child who has the responsibility for the long‑term and day‑to‑day care, welfare and development of the child or a person acting on behalf of that birth parent, with a view to the child’s adoption by a step‑parent of the child.
[Section 7 amended: No. 41 of 1997 s. 6.]
A person must not —
make an arrangement for or towards or with a view to the adoption of a child; or
conduct negotiations for or towards or with a view to the adoption of a child; or
arrange or participate in a change of a child’s place of residence with a view to the adoption of the child; or
assist in the preparation or mediation of an adoption plan or a variation of an adoption plan.
Penalty: a fine of $25 000 and imprisonment for 2 years.
This section does not apply to —
the CEO or a person authorised under section 6(2); or
a person to whom section 7 applies; or
a private adoption agency, where the adoption service is conducted under and in accordance with a licence provided for by Division 2.
[Section 8 amended: No. 34 of 2004 Sch. 2 cl. 2(8); No. 15 of 2012 s. 5.]
The Minister may grant a licence to a body corporate to conduct adoption services and to perform other functions for the purposes of this Act.
An application for a licence can only be made during a period of time set by the Minister as a period during which applications for licences can be made.
The Minister is to publish the periods of time set under subsection (2) in such manner as the Minister thinks is appropriate.
[Section 9 amended: No. 8 of 2003 s. 7(1) and (2).]
The following matters in relation to applications under, and licences provided for by, section 9 are to be prescribed by regulations —
the functions that may be performed under a licence; and
the qualifications of and requirements to be satisfied by applicants; and
the procedure for applications and grounds for refusal of applications; and
the duration, renewal, revocation and suspension of licences; and
the effect of revocation or suspension of licences, in relation to records and documents held by the licensee or former licensee; and
the conferral of a right to apply to the State Administrative Tribunal for a review of a decision of the Minister as to an application or licence; and
the requirements for public notification of applications for licences and the making of submissions in relation to such applications; and
the undertaking by the CEO of reviews of the operations of private adoption agencies; and
the provision of information to the CEO by private adoption agencies in relation to the adoption services conducted by them, whether for the purposes of a review of an agency’s operations under regulations made under paragraph (ga), a review under Part 5 Division 1, or otherwise; and
such other matters as are necessary or expedient for giving effect to this Division.
[Section 10 amended: No. 8 of 2003 s. 8; No. 34 of 2004 Sch. 2 cl. 2(8); No. 55 of 2004 s. 11.]
A person, not being a private adoption agency, is not to hold himself, herself or itself out as being, or pretend to be, or make use of any words or letters or any name, title, abbreviation, or description that implies or tends to encourage the belief that he, she or it is a private adoption agency.
Penalty: a fine of $10 000 and imprisonment for 12 months.
[Section 11 amended: No. 15 of 2012 s. 70.]
The CEO is to appoint an adoption applications committee in accordance with this Division.
[Section 12 inserted: No. 8 of 2003 s. 10; amended: No. 34 of 2004 Sch. 2 cl. 2(8).]