Immigration and adoption specialist Stewart Dalley has warned that New Zealand’s urgent changes to section 17 of the Adoption Act could leave overseas children stranded or unlawfully in the country if visa or citizenship applications were not completed before the law took effect.
Dalley told state-funded media the temporary legislation, introduced to address cases of abuse and trafficking, suspends adoptions from non-Hague Convention countries except in rare “exceptional circumstances,” despite existing Family Court vetting processes.
Dalley, himself an adoptive parent, said the government had used a “sledgehammer to crack a nut,” disrupting legitimate cases and offering little clarity for families mid-process.
Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee acknowledged the disruption but said a long-term law would be introduced next year.
Image credit: Austin Lowman
No doubt another ill thought out ill conceived legislative cock up waiting in the wings
Which will require a more urgent damage control band-aid
And where is fast track taking us?
The Beehive House of horrors
Full of Freemasons and Fabians.
Do they ever get anything right? We need competent government that acts in peoples interests.