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| ADOPTION
ORDER INFORMATION SHEET |
An
Adoption Order is made according to the provisions
of the Adoption Act 1976 (as amended) which gives
parental responsibility for a child to the adopters.
The adoptive parent or parents will usually wish
to change the child's surname to their own and may
also decide to change his forename or forenames
but this will be less common. Alternatively and
especially with an older child with greater understanding
they may elect to continue to call the child by
his pre-adoptive name or names. The court must consider
the child's views.
After adoption the new parents have the normal rights
under their newly acquired parental responsibility
to change the child's name by Change of Name Deed.
Once the Adoption Order is made, the Registrar General
will record the Order, including any new name granted
by the court, in the Adopted Children Register.
The child's birth certificate is replaced by the
issue of an Adoption Certificate. The birth certificate
will merely be noted with the word adopted or Are-adopted.
Evidence of the new name will be constituted by
a certified copy of the entry in the Register.
It will not often be possible to produce detailed
evidence of change of name because the records linking
the Adopted Children Register with the Register
of Births are kept confidential except in certain
circumstances.
An adopted person who has attained the age of 18
has the right of access to his Birth Record. |
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