Section 3
Procedure on adoption
—
(a) An application for registration of an adoption of a child shall be made in such form as may be prescribed by the State
Secretary and submitted to the District Officer for the District where any of the natural parents or adopting parents or guardian resides, together with all documentary and other evidence necessary to satisfy the District Officer of the conditions set out in section 5(1).
(b)
The District Officer may—
(i)
require the natural parents or adopting parents or guardian to produce a medical report from a registered medical practitioner or a doctor in a Government hospital, on the health of the child; or
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(ii)
request the Director of the State Welfare Department to examine the child or interview the natural parent or adopting parent or guardian, and submit to him a report on the welfare of the child or the social, financial and personal background of the natural parents or adopting parents or guardian based upon such examination or interview, to enable him to determine whether the adoption would be in the paramount interest of the child.
(c)
Where the District Officer is satisfied from the information disclosed in the application form and the documentary and other evidence submitted by the natural parents and adopting parents or guardian, and the report, if any, produced or made available under paragraph (b), that the conditions for a valid adoption have been fulfilled, the District Officer shall notify the parties, their witnesses, and if necessary, the child, to appear before him for the purpose of registration of the adoption.
(2)
Where the natural parents and the adopting parents or guardian and their witnesses appear before the District Officer, he shall record their presence and their unequivocal consent in writing to the adoption.
(3)
The District Officer, if fully satisfied by documentary evidence that the adoption is bona fide and the child is born in
Sarawak and has Sarawak connection, may dispense with the personal attendance of the natural parents or parent or guardian of the child, provided that the adopting parents shall furnish to the District Officer a statutory declaration voluntarily made by the natural parents or parent or guardian, that their consent has been freely given for the adoption of the child.
(4)
Where a married person adopts a child, the consent of both the adopting father and mother must be obtained.
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(b)
If the parent or parents of a child are not fit and proper persons to have the care and custody of such child, the District Officer may dispense with the consent of such parent or parents.
(5)
It shall be the duty of the District Officer before registering an adoption by a person who professes the Islamic faith to draw the specific attention of such person to section 2(2), and to inform him in clear and unmistakable terms that the adoption of children on such a basis is contrary to the Islamic Law:
Provided that no adoption shall be invalid by reason only of the
District Officer failing to comply with the provisions of this subsection.