Documents You Need Notarised When Adopting a Child Overseas

Intercountry adoption from Australia is a long process with a paperwork peak in the middle. For a year or more you deal almost entirely with Australian authorities, and nobody asks for a notary. Then you are approved, allocated to a country program, and asked to assemble a dossier for a foreign government — and suddenly every page needs a seal on it.

This page follows that sequence, so you can see where the notary fits and, just as usefully, where they do not.

Before the dossier: no notary

Intercountry adoption in Australia is arranged through the central authority in your state or territory, working with the partner country's authorities. You cannot arrange it privately with an overseas orphanage or agency and expect it to be recognised. The early stages — information sessions, the application, the assessment of your suitability, and approval — happen between you and that authority.

The documents you supply at this stage go to an Australian government body. Plain or certified copies of the kind any authorised person can witness are generally what it asks for, and it will tell you what it wants. Paying a notary here buys nothing.

The dossier: where the notary comes in

Once you are approved and your file is allocated to a specific country, you prepare the dossier that will be sent to that country. Its contents are set by the country of origin, not by Australia, and they vary widely. A typical list includes:

• birth certificates and your marriage certificate
• police checks
• medical reports on each applicant
• employment letters, bank statements or other financial evidence
• personal references
• statements you write yourselves, such as a letter of motivation
• your assessment report and approval from the Australian authority

Your central authority will usually give you the country's list, the order it wants things in, and which items must be authenticated. Start from that document, not from a general checklist.

Sort the dossier by who issued each document

This is where most of the cost is decided.

Documents issued by an Australian public body — registry certificates, some police checks, the authority's approval — may be able to go to DFAT for an apostille or authentication without a notary, because DFAT can verify the issuing official's signature. Confirm with DFAT which of yours qualify.

Documents written by a private person — the doctor's report, the employer's letter, the references, your own statements — cannot go straight to DFAT. A notary has to act on them first so there is an Australian official signature for DFAT to authenticate.

Two different notarial acts, and the one that causes delays

For those private documents, the receiving country will want one of two things:

• a notarised copy: you bring the original letter and the notary certifies a copy as true; or
• a notarised signature: the person who wrote the document signs it in front of the notary.

The second is much harder to arrange. It means your GP, your employer or a referee has to attend a notary personally. Find out which one each document needs before you ask anyone to write anything, so they can sign in front of the notary the first time rather than being asked twice.

Your own statements are the easy part: you sign them at your appointment. Bring them unsigned. For the full detail of what a notary can do with adoption records themselves, see our page on notarising adoption papers.

Watch the shelf life while you wait

Dossiers then wait, sometimes for a long time, before a match. Several items in them age: medical reports, police checks and financial evidence are commonly accepted only if recent. If the wait runs past the limit, those documents have to be obtained, notarised and authenticated again.

You cannot prevent this, but you can plan for it. Keep a list of what expires and when, and ask your central authority how the country handles updates. Our page on documents older than the accepting country allows covers what has to be redone and what does not.

After placement: foreign documents, then reports

The adoption is usually finalised under the law of the child's country. The documents that result — the adoption decision or order, the child's new birth certificate, and for adoptions under the Hague Adoption Convention a certificate that the adoption complied with it — are issued overseas. They are authenticated in that country, if at all. An Australian notary cannot vouch for them, and does not need to.

Back in Australia, the child's visa or citizenship application goes to the Department of Home Affairs, which usually accepts certified copies from an authorised person rather than notarised ones. Translations of the foreign documents for Home Affairs should be by a NAATI-credentialled translator.

The step families do not expect is the last one. Many countries of origin require post-placement reports for a period after the adoption, and some want them notarised or legalised each time they are sent. If that applies to you, it is a recurring appointment, not a one-off — worth knowing before you start.

Frequently asked questions

Can a Justice of the Peace witness the dossier documents? Not for documents going to another country. A JP's certification is not recognised overseas, and DFAT will not authenticate it.

The partner country is a "Hague country". Does that mean an apostille is enough? Not necessarily. The Hague Adoption Convention and the Hague Apostille Convention are separate treaties, and a country can belong to one and not the other. Check apostille membership against the HCCH status table on the day. If the country is not an apostille member, documents need DFAT authentication and then legalisation at its embassy.

Do the dossier documents need translating? Usually, into the language of the country of origin. That country decides whose translation it accepts, so ask your central authority before commissioning one here.