Western Australian Consolidated Acts Western Australian Consolidated Acts (1) Before an
application for an adoption order in relation to a child is filed, an
application may be made to the Court by the CEO, a prospective adoptive parent
or on behalf of the child for an order to dispense with a requirement under
section 17(1) for a person’s consent to the child’s adoption.
(2) On an application
under subsection (1) the Court may, by order, dispense with the
requirement for the person’s consent to the child’s adoption if
the Court is satisfied that —
(a)
after enquiries which the Court thinks are sufficient, the person cannot be
found or contacted;
(b)
during a period of not less than one year immediately before the application,
steps have been taken to establish or re-establish a parent and child
relationship between the person and the child but —
(i)
the person has seriously ill-treated or persistently
neglected the child; or
(ii)
on the report of a person who the Court thinks is
suitably qualified, the first-mentioned person has failed to establish or
maintain an acceptable relationship with the child;
(c) the
child is 16 or more years of age and consents to being adopted by a
prospective adoptive parent who is a step-parent or carer of the child;
(d) the
person’s mental condition is such that he or she is incapable of giving
an effective consent to the child’s adoption and is not likely to be
capable of doing so within the time required for the proposed adoption
proceedings;
(e)
where the person is the child’s father —
(i)
the person has been convicted of an offence and the Court
is satisfied that the child’s conception resulted from the offence;
(ii)
compensation has been awarded to the child’s mother
under the Criminal Injuries Compensation Act 2003 in relation to an
offence within the meaning of that Act committed by the person and the Court
is satisfied that the child’s conception resulted from the offence; or
(iii)
the person is a lineal relative of the child’s
mother;
(f)
except in the case of a proposed adoption by a step-parent, the person is a
birth parent of the child but has neither the responsibility for the
day-to-day care of the child nor a parent and child relationship with the
child, and is unreasonably withholding his or her consent to the child’s
adoption; or
(g)
special circumstances exist in which it is proper to dispense with the
requirement for the person’s consent.
[Section 24 inserted by No. 41 of 1997
s. 9; amended by No. 8 of 2003 s. 20; No. 77 of 2003
s. 73; No. 34 of 2004 s. 251.]