Evidence in Adoption Hearing
When I found out that under Australian law it is more or less illegal for adoption agencies/authorities to accept the consent of a birth mother while she is pregnant or even in the few days after giving birth, I became curious about what inquiries were made regarding the consent given by my birth mother.
In Australia, an adoption is finalised after a hearing in a local court. An adoption order is issued, signifying the start of the formal legal relationship of parent and child between the adoptee and their adoptive parents.
I wanted to know which evidence the magistrate relied on to confirm that I had been legitimately relinquished and that the consent given by my mother was proper and intact.
I applied to the South Australian Youth Court for any and all records relating to my adoption hearing. I received a copy of the completed application for an adoption order and the evidence given in the hearing.
I wondered whether my parents had given oral evidence in the Court or answered any questions from the Magistrate about me and my adoption. This part I can’t be sure of. But the evidence that I have seen shows that it’s possible that my parents were only asked a selection of basic questions about their responsibility to me as a parent. All that was required was a simple “yes” to each question. They both signed and dated the forms.
If this was the only evidence presented to the court, then there was no consideration of whether proper consent was given by my birth mother.
Unrelated to the topic of consent is that my Korean name was written incorrectly on my adoption order. I’m not revealing my Korean name, but let’s imagine it is HONG, Kil Dong. On my adoption order, some letters got inverted and it became HON, Kil Don. Seems a small error, but obviously changes the name completely.
My incorrectly written Korean name became my legal adoptive middle name. Because my legal identity as an adult flowed from that document all my other official documentation also had the wrong name on it. It was always a mystery to me how this typo occurred on such a significant document. But from looking through the application form from the Court, I can see clearly that it was my own adoptive mother who wrote my name incorrectly.