History of adoption legislation
- Orphanages Act 1879
- Infant Life Protection Act 1905
- Adoption of Children Act 1935
- Adoption of Children Act 1964
- Amendments to the Act since 1990
Orphanages Act 1879
The Orphanages Act 1879 laid down the foundations for adoption legislation although it did not specifically deal with adoption. The Orphanages Act 1879 focused on improving the management of institutions that provided care for orphans and deserted or neglected children under the age of twelve years.
Children could obtain a licence to live with any trustworthy and respectable person willing to receive and take charge of them. This licence was granted for a period not exceeding six months and could be renewed or revoked at any time. A child could also be contracted as an apprentice to any trade or service for a period of up to five years. Children subject to contracts were visited regularly by the authorities until they reached sixteen years of age.
Whether children's placements were arranged by licence or contract, children over the age of twelve years were entitled to be paid wages, comparable to the wages paid to any child in employment. Children granted a licence or subject to a contract that enabled them to live with a family did not have their names legally changed and were not entitled to inherit from the family taking charge of them. Parents often privately arranged these placements and many children were raised outside their own families without knowledge of their 'adoptive' status.
In order to prevent the exploitation of children as a source of cheap labour, the maximum age at which children could be adopted was lowered to five years in 1885.
Infant Life Protection Act 1905
The Infant Life Protection Act 1905 made provision for the adoption of illegitimate children. Before 1921, many 'adoptions' were merely private arrangements. The parties concerned signed a private agreement, with solicitors making contracts or articles of adoption. In some instances, the Police Department, which administered the Infant Life Protection Act 1905, was notified that a child had been placed for adoption. After 1918, adoptive parents had only to notify the Director, State Children Department, which was still formalised by private agreement by the parties concerned.
In 1921, an amendment to the Infant Life Protection Act made provision for the legal adoption of children under the age of ten years. This meant that prospective adoptive parents were required to apply to the State Children's Department which assessed applicants' circumstances, character and suitability to adopt a child. Birth parents were required to sign a consent form renouncing any legal claim upon the child. An agreement of adoption was signed by the Director and the child's adoptive parents, and was registered by the Registry of the Births, Deaths and Marriages. The surname of the child became that of the adoptive parents. However, legal rights of inheritance were not conferred by adoption.
Adoption of Children Act 1935
In 1935, the Adoption of Children Act 1935 was introduced after a study of similar Acts in other countries. Adoption was made an administrative procedure with the Director, State Children Department, having the authority to make adoption orders.
A child could be adopted up to twenty-one years of age, but if over twelve years of age at the time of adoption, the child's consent was required. Adopted children were given the same rights as a child born within a marriage, in terms of name, care, custody and to some extent, rights of inheritance.
The Act required an Adoption Register to be kept by the Registrar-General with a note of the adoption being made against adopted children's original birth entry. The Act prescribed that information regarding a child's adoption could be released only by Supreme Court order. The Adoption of Children Act was later amended in 1941 and 1952.
Adoption of Children Act 1964
As a result of co-operation to establish uniform adoption laws throughout Australia, Queensland introduced the Adoption of Children Act 1964. Under this Act, the Director, Department of Children's Services, continued to be the sole authority to control and make adoption orders in the State.
Although private adoption agencies operated in other parts of Australia, privately arranged adoptions became illegal in Queensland. Private arrangements still took place if a child was to be adopted by a relative. However, only a person authorised by the Director could witness a parent's consent to an adoption made specifically in favour of a relative.
The Act and Regulation provided for anonymity between birth parents and adoptive parents. Under the previous Act and Regulation, adoptive parents were provided with the adoption order which included the name of the child's birth parent or parents.
Under the provisions of the current Adoption of Children Act 1964 adoption orders are retained by the Department. Adoption Orders can be accessed only on the order of a Supreme Court Judge, until the adopted person attains eighteen years of age. Once an adoption order is made, adoptive parents are advised by letter that the adoption of their child is finalised and that a copy of the child's birth entry can be obtained from the Registrar-General's Office. All parents, including adoptive parents, rely on the birth entry as evidence of their legal relationship with their child.
In 1967, the Act was amended to clarify the rights of adopted children to participate in a transfer of property in the case of intestacy. In 1974, the maximum age at which a child could be adopted was reduced to eighteen years and in 1978, the use of the word illegitimate was eliminated from the Adoption of Children Act 1964 by the Status of Children Act.
An Adoption Contact Register was established in the Department of Children's Services in May 1987 to provide for the reunion of adopted persons and birth parents following matched listings of all eligible parties. The Contact Register was replaced by amendments made to the Act in 1990 and 1991.
In 1988 the Act was also amended to enable a custodial birth parent and a step-parent to jointly adopt the custodial parent's child, or for the child's step-parent to be the only adopting parent. The Adoption of Children Act 1964 was further amended in June 1988, to allow for the establishment of separate General Children's Adoption, Special Needs Children's Adoption, Relative Children's Adoption and Foreign Children's Adoption applicant lists and for an Adoptions Appeals Tribunal. The Tribunal enabled adoption applicants who had been unfavourably assessed to appeal the decision. The Tribunal has since been replaced by the appeal provisions in the Children Services Tribunal Act 2000.
Amendments to the Act since 1990
Amendments made to the Adoption of Children Act 1964 in 1990 and 1991 made provision for adults who were adopted and birth parents to receive identifying information about each other or to lodge an objection to contact and the disclosure of identifying information, or objection to contact only, in certain circumstances. Provision was made for eligible relatives and adoptive parents to receive identifying information in certain circumstances. The Act was also amended at this time to allow for bequests to be made to adopted persons whose identity is unknown to a testator.
The amendments made to the Act in 1990 and 1991 provide people who are adopted and birth parents who sign an adoption consent after June 1991 with an unqualified entitlement to access identifying information once the adopted person attains 18 years of age.
The Adoption of Children Act 1964 was amended by the Adoption of Children (Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption) Amendment Act 1999 in order to facilitate Queensland's implementation of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in respect of Intercountry Adoption.
The Adoption of Children Act 1964 was amended by the Adoption of Children Amendment Act 2002 in July 2002. The amendment clarified the matters to be considered by the Director-General when making placement decisions for a child requiring an adoptive family and altered the application and selection process for prospective adoptive parents of children from overseas and children from Queensland who are not relatives or step-children and are not declared to have special needs. The General Children's Adoption and Foreign Children's Adoption applicant lists were replaced with an Expression of Interest Register and an Assessment Register.
- Last updated
- 30 May 2007