# Adoption

> reg-1.04 — as in force on 2026-06-01 — F2026C00497 · Compilation No. 287 — https://www.legislation.gov.au/F2026C00497/latest/text

1.04 Adoption
          (1) A person (in this regulation called the adoptee) is taken to have been adopted by
              a person (in this regulation called the adopter) if, before the adoptee attained the
              age of 18 years, the adopter assumed a parental role in relation to the adoptee
              under:
                (a) formal adoption arrangements made in accordance with, or recognised
                    under, the law of a State or Territory of Australia relating to the adoption of
                    children; or
                (b) formal adoption arrangements made in accordance with the law of another
                    country, being arrangements under which the persons who were recognised
                    by law as the parents of the adoptee before those arrangements took effect
                    ceased to be so recognised and the adopter became so recognised; or
                (c) other arrangements entered into outside Australia that, under
                    subregulation (2), are taken to be in the nature of adoption.








          (2) For the purposes of paragraph (1)(c), arrangements are taken to be in the nature
              of adoption if:
                (a) the arrangements were made in accordance with the usual practice, or a
                    recognised custom, in the culture or cultures of the adoptee and the
                    adopter; and
               (b) the child-parent relationship between the adoptee and the adopter is
                    significantly closer than any such relationship between the adoptee and any
                    other person or persons, having regard to the nature and duration of the
                    arrangements; and
                (c) the Minister is satisfied that:
                      (i) formal adoption of the kind referred to in paragraph (1)(b):
                              (A) was not available under the law of the place where the
                                   arrangements were made; or
                              (B) was not reasonably practicable in the circumstances; and
                     (ii) the arrangements have not been contrived to circumvent Australian
                          migration requirements.