Adoption in New Zealand
The Adoption Act 1955 established the principle of secrecy , the previous identity of the adopted child was inaccessible and birth parents were not given access to the new identity of their child .The legislation and practice were based upon an assumption that the past should be concealed and the birth mother would forget her ordeal. This specific feature of the present legislation runs counter to the developing trend towards openness in adoption. The opening up of adoption was initiated by adoptees and was first met with strong resistance. Since the 1980s, open adoption in New Zealand has become standard practice , and has been assisted with new legislation to allow access to previously confidential records. Open adoption can range from meeting prior to the adoption, to regular meeting between birth parents to intermittent ongoing contact. Where the degree of contact is decided by the parties involved. New Zealand has been described as having the "leading Western adoption practise with respect to openness. Although widely practised it is not recognised in law and family court judges struggle to reconcile open adoption with the Act- which servers ties with birth parents completely.
. This idea of open adoption, which is varying degrees of contact between child, adoptive and birth parents,(r 65, p39) has in the past few years become widely practised. There are some disadvantages to legislating the open adoption practice, as adoption agreements would be difficult to enforce. Attempts to enforce an agreement may create anxieties and bitterness which would be detrimental to the child and al other parities concerned. Legislation on this matter would represent an attempt to reflect good adoption practice, although it may be questioned whether this is either feasible or desirable. An open adoption must exist for the benefit of the child. Amendments suggested have been a legislative provision be made for open adoption agreements, that only be changed by mutual consent of the parties or by order of the Family Court. Guardianship in an amended form could also be made available as an alternative to adoption . One birth certificate issued with the names of both adoptive and birth parents would also help the open adoption process Increasing the options available may allow some children to be adopted who would not otherwise be placed
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1135
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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