Introduction. This Chapter contains various provisions relating to the general operation of the Act. The Chapter also repeals the Adoption of Children Act 1965 and the Adoption Information Act 1990 and the regulations made under those Acts.
194 Restriction on inspection of records
(cf AC Act ss 66, 67)
(1) Except as provided by this Act (in particular Chapter 8) or the regulations, the following records are not to be open to inspection by, or made available to, any person, including any party to proceedings before the Court under this Act:(a) records made in connection with the administration or execution of this Act or the former Acts,(b) without limiting paragraph (a):(i) records of any proceedings under this Act or the former Acts, and(ii) any reports made under section 40, 78 or 91 of this Act or comparable provisions of the former Acts.(2) Subsection (1) (b) does not apply to any record or report if so ordered by the Court.
195 Consultation with Aboriginal persons
(1) The Director-General may approve an Aboriginal person as a person who may provide advice and assistance to Aboriginal families or kinship groups in relation to care options for Aboriginal children for the purposes of this Act.(2) The Director-General must not approve a person under this section unless the Director-General is satisfied that the person has relevant experience in working with Aboriginal children, whether or not in connection with their families or kinship groups.
196 Consultation with Torres Strait Islanders
(1) The Director-General may approve a Torres Strait Islander as a person who may provide advice and assistance to Torres Strait Islander families or kinship groups in relation to care options for Torres Strait Islander children for the purposes of this Act.(2) The Director-General must not approve a person under this section unless the Director-General is satisfied that the person has relevant experience in working with Torres Strait Islander children, whether or not in connection with their families or kinship groups.
(cf AI Act s 37)
(1) Any notice required to be given under this Act may be given personally or by post.(2) If a person required to be given notice has duly nominated an address at which the person is to be notified, the notice may be given to the person only at that address.(3) Despite subsection (2), the Director-General may give notice at another address known to the Director-General if after duly attempting to give the notice at the nominated address the Director-General has been unable to notify the person.
198 Notices and other documents to be written in other languages
(1) If:(a) the Director-General is required, by or under this Act, to cause a notice or other instrument to be given to a person, and(b) it appears to the Director-General that the person is not literate in the English language but is literate in another language,the Director-General must, in so far as it is reasonably practicable, cause the notice or other instrument to be written in the other language.(2) The notice or other instrument must be written in such a form that there is a reasonable expectation that its contents will be understood by the person to whom it is given.(3) Failure to comply with subsection (1) does not invalidate any thing done under any other provision of this Act.
199 Entitlements of disabled persons
(cf AI Act s 36A)
(1) In this section, a reference to a person with a disability is a reference to a person:(a) who is intellectually, physically, psychologically or sensorily disabled, or(b) who is of advanced age, or(c) who is a mentally incapacitated person, or(d) who is otherwise disabled,and who, because of that fact, is restricted in one or more major life activities to such an extent that he or she requires supervision or social rehabilitation.(2) If a person with a disability:(a) has an entitlement to receive adoption information, or may lodge a contact veto or advance notice request, under this Act, and(b) is unable, because of the disability, to do anything required by this Act that must be done if the person is to receive the adoption information or lodge the contact veto or advance notice request,another person may, if so directed by the Guardianship Tribunal under Part 4A of the Guardianship Act 1987, do any such act on behalf of the person with the disability.(3) The Director-General may:(a) refuse to supply any birth certificate endorsed with a contact veto to a person acting on behalf of a person with a disability, or(b) direct an information source not to supply any such birth certificate,if the Director-General is of the opinion that the person will be unable to ensure that the person with the disability will not contact or attempt to contact the person who lodged the contact veto.
(cf AI Act s 35)
(1) The Director-General or other information source may demand fees or charges in relation to the supply of documents or information, or the provision of services, under this Act.(2) The Director-General is to notify, in the Gazette, the fees or charges payable under this Act to the Director-General and (if the Director-General has been so informed) to other information sources.(3) A notice under subsection (2) may specify the minimum fees or charges payable in relation to the supply of any documents or information, or provision of any service, under this Act.(4) The Director-General or other information source may waive or reduce any fees or charges (other than a minimum fee or charge referred to in subsection (3)) payable under this Act.(5) The regulations may make provision for or with respect to fees and charges payable under this Act.
201 Provision of financial and other assistance to certain children and birth parents
(cf AC Act s 68A)
(1) The Director-General may, with respect to a child of a class or description prescribed by the regulations, enter into an agreement with:(a) a person or persons with whom the child has been placed for the purposes of adoption, or(b) the applicant, or applicants, for an adoption order in relation to the child, or(c) the adoptive parent, or adoptive parents, of the child,for the provision of such financial or other assistance, on such terms and conditions as may be agreed, in order to assist or promote the best interests of the child.(2) The Director-General may agree to inclusion in an adoption plan of provision for financial and other assistance to be given to a birth parent or the birth parents of a child who has been placed for adoption, on such terms and conditions as are agreed.(3) Nothing in this section prevents the Director-General from entering into an agreement in relation to a child so as to provide financial or other assistance both before and after an adoption order in relation to the child is made.
202 Administration of certain estates
(cf AC Act s 68B)
(1) In this section, a reference to the executor or administrator of the estate of a deceased person includes a reference to a person who is a trustee of the whole or any part of the property comprised in the estate.(2) If:(a) an adopted person is a beneficiary under the estate of a deceased person, and(b) the executor or administrator of the estate does not know the name or whereabouts of the adopted person, and(c) the Director-General certifies, in writing, to the executor or administrator that the Director-General knows the name and whereabouts of the adopted person and that the adopted person is alive,the executor or administrator may, with the approval of the NSW Trustee and Guardian, transfer to the NSW Trustee and Guardian, on behalf of the adopted person, any property to which the adopted person may be entitled under the estate or which may be otherwise applied for the adopted person’s benefit.(3) A transfer made under this section is valid against all persons and the executor or administrator is absolutely discharged from all liability in relation to a transfer so made by the executor or administrator.(4) The NSW Trustee and Guardian is to apply any property transferred to the NSW Trustee and Guardian under this section on behalf of the adopted person in relation to whom it was transferred in accordance with the trusts on which the property was held immediately before it was transferred as if the NSW Trustee and Guardian were the executor or administrator of the estate of the deceased person in relation to which the transfer was made.(5) Nothing in this section affects any right of a person to claim or recover any property transferred under this section from a person other than the executor or administrator who transferred the property.
202A Entry and inspection under search warrant
(1) The Director-General or a police officer may apply to an authorised officer for a search warrant if the Director-General or police officer has reasonable grounds for believing that a provision of this Act or the regulations has been or is being contravened at any premises.(2) An authorised officer to whom such an application is made may issue a search warrant if satisfied that there are reasonable grounds for doing so.(3) A search warrant authorises the person named in the warrant:(a) to enter the premises, and(b) to inspect the premises for evidence of a contravention of this Act or the regulations.(4) Division 4 of Part 5 of the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002 applies to a search warrant issued under this section.(5) In this section, authorised officer has the same meaning as it has in the Law Enforcement (Powers and Responsibilities) Act 2002.
(cf AC Act s 59, AI Act s 40)
Proceedings for an offence against this Act or the regulations must not be commenced except with the written consent of the Minister.
(cf AC Act s 60, AI Act s 40)
(1) Proceedings for an offence against this Act or the regulations are to be dealt with summarily before the Local Court.(2) Proceedings for an offence against this Act or the regulations may be commenced:(a) within but not later than 12 months after the date on which the offence is alleged to have been committed, or(b) within but not later than 6 months after the date on which evidence of the offence first came to the attention of any relevant authorised officer,whichever is the later time.(3) If subsection (2) (b) is relied on for the purpose of commencing proceedings for an offence, the court attendance notice must contain particulars of the date on which evidence of the offence first came to the attention of any relevant authorised officer and need not contain particulars of the date on which the offence was committed. The date on which evidence of the offence first came to the attention of any relevant authorised officer is the date specified in the court attendance notice, unless the contrary is established.(4) This section applies despite anything in the Criminal Procedure Act 1986 or any other Act.(5) In this section:evidence of an offence means evidence of any act or omission constituting the offence.
relevant authorised officer means a person prescribed by the regulations as an authorised officer for the purposes of this definition.
205 Exclusion from proceedings
(cf AC Act s 60)
(1) At the hearing of any proceedings in relation to an offence against this Act or the regulations, any person not directly interested in the proceedings is to be excluded from the court, unless the court otherwise directs.(2) A court may:(a) direct a child to leave the court at any time during the hearing of any proceedings in relation to an offence against this Act or the regulations, or(b) direct any person to leave the court during the examination of any witness in any such proceedings,if the court is of the opinion that, in the interests of a child, such a direction should be given.(3) The powers of the court under subsection (2) may be exercised even though the child or person directed to leave the court may be directly interested in the proceedings.(4) This section applies to and in relation to the hearing of any appeal against the decision of a court in the same way as it applies to and in relation to the hearing of proceedings before the court.
(1) The Minister may delegate to the Director-General, or to any other person, the exercise of any of the Minister’s powers under this Act or the regulations, other than this power of delegation.(2) The Director-General may delegate to any person the exercise of:(a) any of the functions delegated to the Director-General by the Minister, or(b) any of the other functions of the Director-General under this Act or the regulations, other than this power of delegation.
(cf AC Act s 72)
(1) Rules of court may be made under the Supreme Court Act 1970 regulating practice and procedure in relation to proceedings under this Act.(2) Subsection (1) does not limit the rule-making powers conferred by the Supreme Court Act 1970.
(cf AC Act s 73, AI Act s 41)
(1) The Governor may make regulations, not inconsistent with this Act, for or with respect to any matter that by this Act is required or permitted to be prescribed or that is necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.(2) In particular, regulations may be made for or with respect to the following:(a) the exercise of any function conferred under Chapter 8 of this Act (including, but not limited to, the supply of adoption information and the issue of authorities to supply such information),(b) internal review of decisions made by the Director-General under this Act,(c) money paid in relation to adoption services provided by the Director-General or accredited intercountry adoption service providers in relation to intercountry adoptions and accounting for the expenditure of such money.(3) A regulation may create an offence punishable by a penalty not exceeding 50 penalty units.
(1) The following are repealed:(a) the Adoption of Children Act 1965,(b) the Adoption Information Act 1990,(c) the Adoption of Children Regulation 1995,(d) the Adoption Information Regulation 1996.(2) Different days may be appointed for the commencement of the provisions of subsection (1) for the purpose of repealing, on different days, different provisions of the instruments referred to in the subsection.
210 Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption
Schedule 1 has effect.
212 Savings and transitional provisions
Schedule 3 has effect.
(1) The Minister is to review this Act to determine whether the policy objectives of the Act remain valid and whether the terms of the Act remain appropriate for securing those objectives.(2) The review is to be undertaken as soon as possible after the period of 5 years from the date of assent to this Act.(3) A report on the outcome of the review is to be tabled in each House of Parliament within 12 months after the end of the period of 5 years.