Adoption information law change in force soon

Press, 28 August 1986, Page 14

Adoption information law change in force soon

PA Wellington Thousands of New Zealanders who have never known their parents or children could finally find out under changes to the adoption laws which will come into effect on Monday, September 1. Adult adoptees and birth parents will be able to get in touch with each other, provided neither party has put a veto on the release of information about themselves, or laid down conditions of contact with the Social Welfare Department. The procedure to be followed by adult adoptees is:

O Apply in writing to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, for the birth certificate.

® The adoptee will then be sent a list of counsellors, from which they have to select one.

® The birth certificate is sent to the counsellor, and an appointment made.

®At this stage, information can either be released or the adoptee told of a veto that has been placed on the information.

Birth parents must approach the Social Welfare Department for help in finding the adoptee. Where at all possible the social worker will try to find the person. The department’s assistant director of foster care and adoptions, Mrs Ann Corcoran, said that in many cases this would not

necessarily be wanted immediately. “We can give them the information first and let them think about what they want to do with it,” she said.

“Hence the emphasis on letting the person move at his or her own pace.”

March 1 was the date when people could register a veto on information about themselves.