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Children's Act, 2005 (Act No. 38 of 2005)

Chapter 15 : Adoption

242. Effect of adoption order

 

(1) Except when provided otherwise in the order or in a post-adoption agreement confirmed by the court an adoption order terminates—
(a) all parental responsibilities and rights any person, including a parent, step-parent or partner in a domestic life partnership, had in respect of the child immediately before the adoption;
(b) all claims to contact with the child by any family member of a person referred to in paragraph (a);
(c) all rights and responsibilities the child had in respect of a person referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) immediately before the adoption; and
(d) any previous order made in respect of the placement of the child.

 

(2) An adoption order—
(a) confers full parental responsibilities and rights in respect of the adopted child upon the adoptive parent;
(b) confers the surname of the adoptive parent on the adopted child, except when otherwise provided in the order;
(c) does not permit any marriage or sexual intercourse between the child and any other person which would have been prohibited had the child not been adopted;
(d) does not affect any rights to property the child acquired before the adoption; and
(e) does not automatically terminate all  parental responsibilities and rights of the parent of a child, when an adoption order is granted in favour of the spouse or permanent domestic life-partner of that parent.

[Section 242(2)(e) inserted by section 10 of Act No. 17 of 2016]

 

(3) An adopted child must for all purposes be regarded as the child of the adoptive parent and an adoptive parent must for all purposes be regarded as the parent of the adopted child.