Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Adoption Act 1984 - SECT 69

Declarations of validity of foreign adoptions

69. Declarations of validity of foreign adoptions



(1) A person specified in subsection (2) may apply to the Court for an order
declaring that an adoption of a person was effected (whether before or after
the commencement of this Act) under the law of a country, other than New
Zealand, outside the Commonwealth and the Territories, and that the adoption
is one to which section 67 applies, and the Court may hear and determine the
application and, if it thinks fit, make an order accordingly.

(2) The persons who may make an application under subsection (1) in relation
to an adoption are the adopted child, the adoptive parent or either or both
the adoptive parents, or a person tracing a relationship, by virtue of the
adoption, through or to the adopted child.





(3) Where an application is made to a Court under this section, the Court
shall direct that notice of the application be given to the Secretary and may
do any or all of the following-

   (a)  direct that notice of the application be given to such other persons
        (who may include the Secretary of the Department of Justice) as the
        Court thinks fit;





   (b)  direct that a person be made a party to the application; or

   (c)  permit the Secretary or any other person having an interest in the
        matter to intervene in, and become a party to, the proceedings.





(4) Where the Court makes an order upon the application-

   (a)  it may include in the order such particulars in relation to the
        adoption, the adopted child and the adoptive parent or parents as the
        Court finds to be established; and

   (b)  it shall issue to the adoptive parent or adoptive parents a
        certificate stating the date on which the order was made, the name of
        the adoptive parent or adoptive parents, the name of the child and
        such other matters as the Court determines.





(5) For the purposes of the laws of Victoria, an order under this section
binds the Crown in right of the State of Victoria, but, except as provided in
subsection (6), does not affect-

   (a)  the rights of another person unless that person was-

   (i)  a party to the proceedings for the order or a person claiming through
        such a party; or

   (ii) a person to whom notice of the application for the order was given or
        a person claiming through such a person; or

   (b)  an earlier judgment, order or decree of a court of competent
        jurisdiction.

(6) In proceedings in a Court in which an order has been made under this
section, being proceedings relating to the rights of a person other than a
person referred to in subparagraph (i) or (ii) of paragraph (a) of subsection
(5), the production of a copy of the order, certified by the Prothonotary or
the Registrar of the Court to be a true copy, shall be evidence that an
adoption was effected in accordance with the particulars contained in the
order and that the adoption is one to which section 67 applies.

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