NTIn ForceAct
Adoption of Children Act 1994
45General effect of adoption orders
Start here
Get a plain-English read of 45
Turn the raw legal text into a practical explanation grounded in Adoption of Children Act 1994.
45 General effect of adoption orders
(1) For the purposes of the laws of the Territory, but subject to this Act
and to the provisions of any other law in force in the Territory that
expressly distinguishes in any way between birth children and
adopted children, on the making of an order for the adoption of a
child:
(a) the child becomes a child of the adoptive parent or adoptive
parents, and the adoptive parent becomes, or adoptive
parents become, the parent or parents of the child as if that
parent or those parents were the birth parent or parents of that
child;
(b) the child ceases to be a child of any person who was a parent
of the child before the making of the adoption order, and such
person ceases to be a parent of the child;
(c) the relationship to one another of all persons affected by the
order for the adoption of the child (including the child and a
former parent of the child) shall be determined on the basis of
the provisions of paragraphs (a) and (b) so far as they are
relevant;
(d) an existing appointment of a person, by will or deed or
otherwise in accordance with a law in force in the Territory, as
guardian of the adopted child ceases to have effect; and
(e) a previous adoption of the child (whether effected under a law
in force in the Territory or otherwise) ceases to have effect.
(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), for the purposes of any law of the
Territory relating to a sexual offence, being a law for the purposes
of which the relationship between persons is relevant, an adoption
order, or the discharge of an adoption order, does not cause the
cessation of any relationship that would have existed if the adoption
Part 3 Adoptions under this Act
Division 7 Effect of adoption orders
Adoption of Children Act 1994 25
order, or the discharging order, as the case may be, had not been
made, and any such relationship is deemed to exist in addition to
any relationship that exists by virtue of the application of that
subsection in relation to the adoption order or by virtue of the
discharge of the adoption order.