Adoption of Children Act 2022 · Updated to 15 Oct 2024 · Part 6 · Regulation of Adoption Practices and Processes
53. Restricted payments to be sanctioned by court
Official textFrom Singapore Statutes Online, unchanged
This section applies to any payment or other reward in consideration of the adoption of a child or for any adoption‑related service, that before, on or after the date of commencement of this section was or is —
made or given directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, or agreed to be made or given directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, by the joint applicants (or either of them) or sole applicant of an adoption application to any person; or
received directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, or agreed to be received directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, by the joint applicants (or either of them) or sole applicant of an adoption application from any person,regardless of whether the adoption application has been made by the joint applicants or sole applicant (as the case may be) at the time that the payment or reward was made, given or received or agreed to be made, given or received.
Every payment or other reward to which subsection (1) applies, and every agreement for such payment or other reward, is void and unenforceable unless —
the payment, reward or agreement is sanctioned by the court; or
the adoption application in question is withdrawn or struck out.
An application for the sanction of the court mentioned in subsection (2)(a) must be made by the joint applicants or sole applicant (as the case may be) at the time that the adoption application is made.
court
“court” means the Family Division of the High Court, a Family Court, or any court hearing an appeal against an order or a decision of the Family Division of the High Court or a Family Court, except in sections 48, 51, 66, 69, 70, 72 and 73 where “court” means a court of competent jurisdiction;
Terms defined in s 2
adoption application
Defined · s 2“adoption application” means an application made under this Act for an adoption order;
adoption-related service
Defined · s 2“adoption-related service” means any of the following:(a)any service provided by an adoption agency (whether directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries) in the course of making arrangements for or on behalf of any person for the adoption in Singapore by that person of a child;(b)the conduct of a pre-adoption briefing described in section 12;(c)the conduct of a disclosure of adoptive status briefing described in section 13;(d)the conduct of any assessment by an authorised adoption agency for the purposes of preparing an ASA;(e)any other service provided by an adoption agency in connection with the adoption or proposed adoption of a child that may be prescribed by the regulations;
applicant
Defined · s 2“applicant” means an individual who makes an adoption application, whether solely or jointly, and for the purposes of Part 2, includes an individual who intends to make an adoption application; and
applicants
Defined · s 2“applicants” means both applicants in the case of a joint adoption application mentioned in section 4;
child
Defined · s 2“child”, if age rather than descendancy is relevant, means an individual below 21 years of age;
court
Defined · s 2“court” means the Family Division of the High Court, a Family Court, or any court hearing an appeal against an order or a decision of the Family Division of the High Court or a Family Court, except in sections 48, 51, 66, 69, 70, 72 and 73 where “court” means a court of competent jurisdiction;
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Part 7
Enforcement
Part 8
General Provisions
Part 9