Tasmanian Consolidated Acts

ADOPTION ACT 1988 - SECT 29

      (1) Subject to this Division, the court shall not make an order for the adoption of a child unless the court is satisfied –

(a) that consent to the adoption has been given in accordance with this Division by the appropriate person or persons ascertained in accordance with this section, that the consent has not been revoked, and that the requirements of section 31 have been complied with; or

(b) that there is not an appropriate person within the meaning of this section to give consent to the adoption –

      (2) In the case of a child whose parents were married to each other at the time of its birth or at or after the time of its conception but before its birth and who has not previously been adopted, the appropriate persons are the mother and the father of the child.

      (3) In the case of a child whose parents were not so married to each other and who has not previously been adopted, the appropriate persons are the mother of the child and a man –

(a) whose name is entered in the entry relating to the child in a register of births, whether in Tasmania or in a place outside Tasmania, as the father of the child, so long as that entry was made before the expiration of a period of 30 days commencing on the day when consent to the adoption was given in accordance with this Division by the mother of the child (the last day of which period is in this subsection referred to as "the relevant day" ); or

(b) who is declared to be the father of the child under a declaration of parentage in force under section 10 of the Status of Children Act 1974, if before the relevant day a copy of the declaration is filed in the office of the Registrar under section 9 (3) of that Act; or

(c) .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  

(d) who is named in an instrument filed before the relevant day in the office of the Registrar under section 9 (1) of the Status of Children Act 1974 that acknowledges that he is the father of the child; or

(da) with whom the mother was in a significant relationship, within the meaning of the Relationships Act 2003, at the time of its birth or at or after the time of its conception but before its birth; or

(e) who has before the relevant day lodged with the Secretary or with the approved agency by which the arrangements for the adoption are being made evidence that –

(i) he is conclusively presumed to be a parent of the child under section 8B(1) of the Status of Children Act 1974; or

(ii) he is, or has at any time been, liable, under an order of the Family Court of Australia for the maintenance of the child; or

(iia) he is, or has at any time been, liable for child support for the child under the Child Support (Assessment) Act 1989 of the Commonwealth; or

(iii) he has at any time, under an order of the Family Court of Australia, been granted access to, or custody or guardianship of, the child.

      (4) Where there is evidence that a particular man is not the father of a child, that man is not, by reason only of paragraph (e) of subsection (3), an appropriate person for the purposes of that subsection in the case of that child.

      (5) In the case of a child who has previously been adopted, the appropriate persons are the adoptive parents of the child.

      (6) In the case of a child who is a non-citizen child, the appropriate person is –

(a) the person who, under the Immigration (Guardianship of Children) Act 1946 of the Commonwealth, is the guardian of the child; or

(b) where that guardian has, under that Act, delegated his powers and functions as guardian to another person, that other person.

      (7) This section does not apply in relation to a person who has attained the age of 18 years before the making of the adoption order.