The Adoption Act 2009 enables the Queensland Childrens Court to make an order preventing the release of someone's identifying information to another person, if doing so would pose an unacceptable risk of harm.
An application for an order to restrict access to identifying information by another party to an adoption can be made by an adopted person, a birth parent, an adoptive parent or by Adoption Services Queensland.
An application may be made if it is known the person seeking the information may be violent, and previous comments or actions suggest he or she is likely to harm the other party in some way.
The person who makes the application has to provide evidence to the Queensland Childrens Court that demonstrates there would be an unacceptable risk of harm to the applicant (other than the department) or to someone else, if the identifying information was provided.
This application can be made and dealt with during court proceedings for a child's adoption, or at any time after an adoption order is made.
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