Open Adoption
‘It is worth emphasising …that there are no legal differences between open and closed adoptions. Children who are part of an open adoption are in every legal sense the children of their adoptive parents, just as they are in a closed adoption. Open adoption is solely a voluntary agreement founded on good will between two sets of parents.’
Keith Griffiths Adoption: History and Practice Social and Legal 1840-1996 p277 ISBEN No. 0-473-04005-0
As Keith points out, the only mechanism available for any form of ‘Open Adoption’ in Aotearoa New Zealand, is the 1955 Adoption Act. However, this Act does not provide for, or recognise any form of ‘open adoption’ practice. This means that the law continues to sanction the ‘as if born to’ and ‘clean slate’ paradigm under which around 100,000 adoption orders have been placed since the Act was implemented.
This will continue to be the case while the current Adoption Act 1955 remains. All adoptions are subject to this Act including those relating to surrogacy, family adoptions, step parent adoptions, international adoption and intercountry adoptions.
Research - Open Adoption
There is a plethora of research accessible on the internet about the experiences of all people involved in ‘open adoption’. To gauge the validity, applicability and robustness of the research findings, it is critical to identify who is conducting the research, the sample size and make up, and the country in which the research has been undertaken.
Oranga Tamariki’s information about the practice of open adoption does not refer to the legal mechanism by which all adoption orders are currently made.
Please contact us if you would like to share your experiences of open adoption, connect with other others, or want help you find information about open adoption.