Placing your child for adoption

Placing your child for adoption is a big decision to make. Adoption is a permanent legal arrangement. It involves permanently relinquishing your legal parental relationship so that your child’s adoptive parents will have full and exclusive parental rights and responsibilities. If you decide to place your child for adoption, we’ll help and support you through the process.

Most adoptions in Aotearoa New Zealand are ‘open adoptions’ where the birth parents and the adoptive family or whānau know each other’s details and may keep in touch. Open adoption arrangements are not legally binding.  

Talk to a social worker

Your first step should be to contact us and ask to be put in touch with an adoption social worker near you.

The social worker will talk to you about your options and what support is available. They will encourage you to take your time to explore all of the options open to you, your family and whānau, and your child. You’ll also discuss the adoption process and what you might expect following the adoption.

Talk to us on 0508 326 459 if you're thinking about placing your child for adoption.

Choosing adoptive parents

Birth parents choose the whānau or family who will adopt their child. You’ll be given information about a variety of families who have all been to our adoption education and preparation programme, and who we believe will provide a loving and safe home for your child.

Approved families who wish to adopt provide photos and profiles about themselves and their lifestyles. You’ll be given plenty of time to look carefully for a family that feels like the best fit for your child. You’re both advised to involve your own family, whānau and friends in this important decision.

You’ll be encouraged to meet with the family you select after your child is born. Giving birth can be an overwhelming experience and you’re likely to need time and emotional space to be sure that adoption is still your best decision.

Giving your consent

Both parents who are guardians of the child must give their consent to adoption. A birthmother is always a guardian. If the child’s birth father has lived with the mother at any time during the pregnancy, or if he has his name on the birth registration, he is also a guardian and needs to give his consent to the adoption.

You can only sign a consent to an adoption once the baby is at least 12 days old. Many birth parents take longer than 12 days to come to a decision. Once the consent form has been signed, it's almost impossible to have the decision reversed. 

Costs

There are no financial costs for birth parents in the legal process of placing a child for adoption.

However carefully the decision is made, most birth parents who place their child for adoption have feelings of grief and loss. These feelings may lessen over time, but don't go away completely. Your adoption social worker can give you information and support.

Most adoptions in Aotearoa New Zealand are 'open adoptions'. This means that both sets of parents get to know each other and have an agreement about what sort of relationship or contact you can have with your birth child.

An open adoption gives you the opportunity to follow how your child is progressing. You might do this through photos, phone calls, letters, or visits. It also means the adoptive whānau or family can ask you any questions they may have about your family background or health, and that your child can know their birth family history and whakapapa.

Contact isn't enforced by law, and the arrangement may change over time, especially as the child gets older and has more to say about it.

Open adoption is usually beneficial for your child, you, and the adoptive parents. However it can sometimes also create some stresses. Talk to your adoption social worker if you have any concerns. 

You might know someone personally who you would like to adopt your child. Contact us as soon as you decide you want to place your baby with the new whānau or family, so we can discuss this with you.

You should be very careful when considering a private adoption as there can be problems. Sometimes birth mothers feel pressured or obliged to continue with adoption even if they have decided they would like to keep their child. Remember that adoption is final, and you can’t change your mind once you have signed the consent.

Private adoptions are still a legal process and a social worker will need to meet with the whānau or family to make sure they are suitable. Any arrangements you make with the adoptive parents are not legally binding until consent has been signed.

After the birth, and before you sign the consent, you will still have the right to change your mind and keep your baby. The social worker can support you if you decide to do this. 

There are alternatives to placing your child for adoption. You may want to consider a parenting order under the Care of Children Act. This will give the new parents guardianship of your child and they will have the legal right to make day-to-day decisions about them. This is sometimes a good option for step children.

If you think it would be best for your child that they are raised by someone in your extended family, parenting orders can be a good legal option.

We are not involved in parenting orders, as they are arranged through a court. You’ll need to get legal advice about this option from your lawyer or your local Community Law Centre. 

Use the 'find a family lawyer' database to help you locate a family lawyer in your area.

Visit the 'Find a family lawyer' page on the New Zealand Law Society website