‘Discharge of an adoption order’ means the undoing or removing of the legal effect of an adoption order. 

If the Court makes an Order to discharge an adoption, then the adoption ceases to exist and the person is no longer an adopted person or legally connected to the family that adopted them. They become legally reconnected to their birth family.

 “What is this about?”

When we were infants, “adoptees” were not given the right to choose to be adopted.  We were traded as commodities in many cases, with money changing hands between customer and business.  Shouldn’t we, as adults, have the right to choose our legally-recognised families heritage and bloodline?

The once-powerless should finally have the power to decide.

When a child is surrendered to adoption, all legal recognition that he/she is part of his natural family is terminated. The child and his natural family become “legal strangers” to each other. When adopted, the child is considered “as if born to” the adopters. The technical term for this legal relationship is “Filiation”:

Who would want to terminate their adoption?  

Any adult adopted person who believes in self-determination and chooses this action for themselves for their own reasons. 

 Adult adoptees should have the right and freedom to choose to re-establish their original identity which was previously removed from them without their consent.

An adoptee was never given a choice whether or not they wanted to be adopted.

The only method of regaining their ancestry and identity that is open to adoptees currently is to seek a discharge, and many adoptees all over Australia are finding this information out for the first time.

How to apply for a discharge of the adoption order

Discharge laws vary depending on what state you were adopted in.