Adoption
Who can be adopted?
Adoption Act 1955, ss 2, 3, 13
A “child” can be adopted under New Zealand adoption law, provided all the necessary legal requirements are met. For the purposes of New Zealand adoption law, a “child” includes anyone under the age of 20.
A person aged 20 or over who is the subject of an interim order made under the Adoption Act prior their 20th birthday is also considered a “child” for the purposes of adoption law. A final adoption order can therefore be issued in relation to such a person.
For an application for adoption order to be made in New Zealand, either:
- a judge must be satisfied that the need for an adoption has come about from an international surrogacy arrangement,
- an associate of judge of the Family Court is satisfied that both those applying to adopt and the child to be adopted are ordinarily resident in New Zealand, or
- exceptional circumstances justify the application (for example, a relative is applying to adopt a child overseas whose parents have died).
Changes to law in relation to adopting children from overseas
In November 2025, legislation was passed that placed significant restrictions on the ability of courts to issue adoption orders in relation to children who are not ordinarily resident in New Zealand. Except where an adoption was made under the Hague Convention, this legislation also limited the granting of New Zealand visas, entry clearance, and citizenship to children adopted by New Zealand citizens and residents under other countries’ laws to those adopted in certain “exempt countries”. In effect, this means that children adopted under the laws of non-exempt countries cannot be brought back to New Zealand, unless the adoption is covered by the Hague Convention.
This legislation was introduced with the stated intention to reduce the risk of children adopted overseas being subject to abuse, neglect, exploitation, and other forms of harm. The rules introduced by it are intended to be only temporary. A government bill including what are intended to be more permanent arrangements for overseas adoptions was introduced to Parliament in May 2026.
