Right Of Appeal In Adoption Cases

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30802, 14 July 1965, Page 3

Right Of Appeal In Adoption Cases

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, July 13.

The Adoption Amendment Bill would provide a right of appeal in cases where one did not exist at present, said the Minister of Justice, Mr Hanan, in Parliament today.

Mr Hanan said the bill would also alter the provisions on the recognition of overseas adoptions. This would facilitate the acceptance in New Zealand of an order for adaption made in another country. Mr Hanan said the main provision for appeal was contained in a clause relating to the refusal by a Magistrate’s Court to make an adoption order either interim or final.

An overseas adoption order would be recognised in New Zealand if it was valid

where it was made. However, in order to ensure that the overseas adoption bore some relation to the New Zealand concept, certain subsidiary tests were laid down.

Dr. A. M. Finlay (Opp., Waitakere) said he was glad the bill provided the right of appeal. To illustrate the necessity for it, he quoted a case where a magistrate ruled against a person applying for an adoption order because the person was a Rationalist and the child was unlikely to receive any religious training.