Department of Social Welfare and Development

• Despite some significant progress, the Ministry of Justice has revised its timeline for delivering final proposals from the first half of this year to “in due course”.
• This means there is still no clear end in sight to what has already been a prolonged and frustrating process.
• Most importantly, those touched by adoption – including extended families – continue to feel the enduring effects of the antiquated and outmoded Adoption Act 1955.
• Some estimates suggest upwards of two million New Zealanders may have a direct link to adoption within their extended family.

Legal fictions

• Legal adoption emerged in Aotearoa in the 1880s as a response to the growing problem of children born out of wedlock.
• Closed adoption went a step further, attempting to legitimise the illegitimate child through a kind of legal fiction.
• And in 2000, the Law Commission found the legal fiction of closed adoption was “a repugnant and unnecessary distortion of reality”.

A history of inaction

• In the past 40 years there have been six formal reviews, two select committees, four cabinet committees and a draft bill.
• Social work practice has also become more open, enabling birth parents, adoptive parents and the adopted child to be known to each other.
• Taken together, these changes have reduced the all-encompassing impact once envisaged for adoption law reform.

The adoption paradox

• Given this, the question must be asked whether the ministry is the right agency to lead adoption reform.
• Ultimately, however, there is an unfortunate paradox at the centre of this issue.
• Adoption reform pits the interests of some against others – typically, those who have been wronged by adoption, and those who want to adopt but fear reform will make the process even more difficult.