Australian Capital Territory Numbered Regulations

ADOPTION REGULATIONS (NO. 31 OF 1993)

TABLE OF PROVISIONS

   PART I--PRELIMINARY CITATION 1. THESE REGULATIONS MAY BE CITED AS THE ADOPTION REGULATIONS.

   2.      (1) Regulation 1 and this regulation commence on the day on which these Regulations are notified in the Gazette.  
   3.      (1) In these Regulations, unless the contrary intention appears—“Act” means the Adoption Act 1993; “adoption list” means the register kept by the Director under paragraph 15 (a) of the Act; “adoption record” means—  

   PART II--THE ADOPTION LIST

   4.      For the purposes of subsection 16 (1) of the Act, a request by applicants for inclusion in the adoption list shall state—  

   PART III--CONSENTS

   5.      For the purposes of section 30 of the Act, an instrument of consent shall be—  
   6.      A person shall not sign an instrument of consent unless he or she—  
   7.      (1) For the purposes of section 30 of the Act, an instrument of consent shall be signed in the presence of, and shall be attested by, a primary witness and a secondary witness.  
   8.      The primary witness to the signing of an instrument of consent shall not attest to that signing unless he or she—  
   9.      The secondary witness to the signing of an instrument of consent shall not attest to that signing unless he or she is satisfied that—  

   PART IV--ACCESS TO INFORMATION

   10.     Information that discloses or indicates that an adopted child was conceived as a result of—  

   PART V--ADOPTION RECORDS

   11.     For the purposes of paragraph 61 (2) (b) of the Act, the prescribed particulars are as follows:  
   12.     If a private adoption agency—  
   13.     (1) For the purposes of subsection 61 (4) of the Act, adoption records created by or furnished to the Director shall be retained permanently by the Territory.  

   PART VI--PRIVATE ADOPTION AGENCIES

   14.     (1) An application under section 81 of the Act by a charitable organisation for approval as a private adoption agency shall be in writing setting out the following information:  
   15.     (1) This regulation applies where any alteration affecting the functions of a private adoption agency in relation to adoptions, or its status as a charitable organisation, occurs in—  
   16.     A private adoption agency shall not appoint a person as principal officer of the agency unless the person—  
   17.     A private adoption agency shall not permit a person to conduct negotiations or make arrangements in relation to the adoption of children for or on behalf of the agency unless the person—  
   18.     A private adoption agency shall not conduct negotiations or make arrangements in relation to the adoption of a child brought from a foreign country for the purpose of adoption in the Territory unless the requirements of subsection 20 (2) of the Act have been complied with.  
   19.     A private adoption agency shall not be conducted from premises normally used for residential purposes.  
   20.     A private adoption agency shall ensure that its adoption records are protected by reasonable security safeguards against—  
   21.     A private adoption agency shall not do an act, or engage in a practice, that would, if it were an agency for the purposes of the Privacy Act 1988 of the Commonwealth, breach an Information Privacy Principle within the meaning of that Act.  

   PART VII--REGISTRATION OF ADOPTIONS

   22.     (1) The Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages shall keep a register of adoptions for the purposes of the Act and these Regulations.  
   23.     (1) A memorandum of an adoption order shall be in accordance with Form 3.  
   24.     (1) The Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages shall only allow a person to have access to the register of adoptions or to any memorandum or copy of an adoption order or an order discharging an adoption order—  
   25.     (1) Where an order for the adoption of a child born in the Territory has been registered in the register of adoptions, the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages shall re-register the birth of the child by entering in the register of births—  
   26.     (1) Where the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages is satisfied that the register of adoptions contains an error or mis-statement in, or an omission from, any particulars entered under these Regulations, he or she shall correct the register accordingly.  
   27.     (1) Where the Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages is satisfied that an entry in the register of adoptions is false, he or she shall cancel the entry by writing in the margin of the entry the words “Cancelled under regulation 27 of the Adoption Regulations”, signing his or her name immediately under those words and writing the date on which the entry was cancelled.  
   28.     (1) A person shall not—  
   29.     (1) A memorandum of an order for the adoption of a child whose birth the Registrar of the Court has reason to believe is registered in a State or in another Territory of the Commonwealth shall be in accordance with Form 3.  
   30.     (1) Where the Director makes a decision—  
   31.     (1) The Minister may, by notice in writing published in the Gazette, determine fees for the purposes of these Regulations.  
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