Queensland Consolidated Acts

ADOPTION ACT 2009 - SECT 314

314 Confidentiality of information obtained by persons involved in administration of Act

(1) This section applies to a person who—

(a) is, or has been, any of the following persons performing functions under or relating to the administration of this Act or the repealed Act—

(i) a public service employee;

(ii) an adoption contract worker, counsellor or other person engaged by the chief executive;

(iii) an approved carer;

(iv) an appropriate Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person;

(v) an independent Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander entity, or member of an independent Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander entity, for an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child;

(vi) a person authorised to use information for research under section 324 ; and

(b) in that capacity, acquired protected information about another person or has access to, or custody of, protected information about another person.

(2) The person must not use the information or disclose the information to anyone else except to the extent the use or disclosure is required or permitted under this Act or necessary to perform the person’s functions under or relating to this Act.

Penalty—

Maximum penalty—100 penalty units or 2 years imprisonment.

(3) The information may be used or disclosed if the use or disclosure is otherwise required or permitted under another law.

(4) To the extent that the information is about a person (the
"relevant person" ), it may be disclosed to the relevant person or to someone else with the relevant person’s consent.

(5) However, if the information is information that may be requested from the chief executive by the relevant person under part 11 , subsection (4) applies to the disclosure of information by or on behalf of the chief executive only to the extent the information may be disclosed under that part.

(6) To the extent the chief executive is satisfied it would not be an unreasonable breach of privacy, the chief executive may disclose—

(a) non-identifying information about an adopted person, adoptive parent or other relative of an adopted person to a birth parent of the adopted person; or

(b) non-identifying information about a birth parent of an adopted person or relative of the birth parent to the adopted person or an adoptive parent of the adopted person.

Examples of non-identifying information about a person—

• general information about the person’s characteristics or social background

• the person’s given name (unless it is distinctive)

(7) The chief executive may disclose information about a person to the police commissioner or the public trustee if satisfied the disclosure—

(a) is for a reasonable purpose in the circumstances; and

(b) is not likely to allow the identification of a party to an adoption by another party to the adoption.

(8) Information about a person who has a current expression of interest made jointly with the person’s spouse, or is being assessed under part 6 jointly with the person’s spouse, may be disclosed to the person’s spouse.

(9) A reference in subsection (1) (a) (ii) to a person engaged by the chief executive includes an employee or contractor of a person engaged by the chief executive.

(10) In this section—

"disclose" includes give access to.

"information" includes a document.

"protected information" , about a person, means information about the person’s personal history or the person’s affairs.