Should the law regulate, encourage or discourage recent developments towards “open adoption”?
What additional provisions, if any, should be made relating to the rights and responsibilities of birth parents? 6.1 Until very recently, the only important rights of birth parents were their rights to consent to the adoption of their child. Adoption law normally requires one or both birth parents to consent to the adoption and there are special provisions designed to protect parents, especially mothers, from undue pressure, mistake and other factors that might undermine the voluntariness of the consent. In some circumstances the Court has power to make adoption orders even though one or both parents refuse to give consent. These rules about parental consent form a very important part of adoption law and give rise to important issues that are considered in this chapter. 6.2 In recent times, practices associated with “open adoption” have raised questions regarding the rights of birth parents. They now have a legal right to identifying information about the adopted child when the child t
