ACTIn ForceAct
Adoption Act 1993
57LRecognition of adoption order made outside Australia
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57L Recognition of adoption order made outside Australia
(1) This section applies to an order for the adoption of a person that was
made (whether before or after the commencement of this section) in
a country outside Australia if, when the legal steps that resulted in the
adoption were commenced, the adoptive parent or parents—
(a) had been resident in a country outside Australia for 1 year or
more; or
(b) were domiciled in a country outside Australia.
(2) An order for the adoption of a person to which this section applies has
the same effect as an adoption order made under this Act if—
(a) the adoption is in accordance with and has not been rescinded
under the law of the country outside Australia where the
adoption order was made; and
(b) in consequence of the adoption, the adoptive parent or parents,
under the law of that country, have a right superior to that of the
adopted person’s birth parents in relation to the care of the
adopted person; and
Division 4A.4 Recognition of other overseas adoptions
(c) under the law of that country, the adoptive parent or parents
were, because of the adoption, placed generally in relation to the
adopted person in the position of a parent or parents.
(3) Despite subsection (2), a court (including a court dealing with an
application under section 57M) may refuse to recognise an adoption
under this section if it appears to the court that the procedure
followed, or the law applied, in connection with the adoption
involved a denial of natural justice or did not comply with the
requirements of substantial justice.
(4) A court that refuses to recognise an adoption may, when refusing or
later, give leave to the applicant to seek an order for the adoption of
the person concerned.
(5) In any proceeding before a court (including a proceeding under
section 57M), it is to be presumed unless the contrary appears from
the evidence, that an order for the adoption of a person that was made
in a country outside Australia complies with subsection (1).
(6) This section does not affect any right that was acquired by, or became
vested in, a person before the commencement of this section.