Adoption Law Reform: Second round of engagement in 2022

On 20 June 2022, the Government asked the public’s views on the options for reform. As part of this engagement, the Ministry of Justice meet with a range of individuals and communities both face-to-face and online.

The second round of engagement closed on 7 August. We’ll use your feedback to inform the development of final policy proposals for adoption law reform. This may include refining, changing or adding to the options set out in the discussion document.

On this page:

Options for reform

Discussion document

Summary document

Options for reform

The options for reform the Government is considering would create a new adoption system that:

has a child-centred purpose of adoption

ensures legal connections to adoptive and birth family and wh?nau

supports meaningful participation of children and birth family and wh?nau

supports post-adoption contact to keep children connected to their birth family and wh?nau

creates automatic access to information on original birth record, with counselling available if requested

supports the adopted person to be connected to their birth culture.

.