CHILDREN’S PROTECTION AND ADOPTION ACT (as amended at 01 December 2002) 67 Rescission of adoption order (1) A parent of a minor for whose adoption an order has been made in terms of this Part, or the person who was at the time of the making of the adoption order the legal guardian of the minor, or the adopter of such a minor, or the Minister may apply to the court by which the adoption order was made for the rescission thereof on one or more of the following grounds— (a) where the applicant is the parent of the minor, that he did not consent to the adoption and that the adoption order should not have been made without his consent; (b) where the applicant is an adopter, that his adoption of the minor was induced by fraud, misrepresentation or justus error, or that the minor was suffering from a serious physical defect or that the minor is a mentally disordered or defective person in terms of the Mental Health Act [Chapter 15:06] and that the physical defect or mental disorder or defect existed at the time of the making of the adoption order; (c) that for reasons set out in the application the adoption is to the detriment of the minor: Provided that— (i) no application made on the ground specified in paragraph (a) may be made more than six months after the date upon which the applicant became aware of the fact that an order for the adoption of his minor child had been made, or more than five years after the date upon which that order was made; (ii) no application made on a ground specified in paragraph (b) may be made more than six months after the date upon which the applicant became aware of that ground; (iii) no application made in terms of paragraph (c) may be made more than five years after the date upon which the adoption order was made. (2) Where the application is made by a parent of the minor, he shall give due notice of the application to the adopter of the minor. (3) Where the application is made by an adopter, he shall give notice of the application to the Minister and to the parent or parents, or the person who was, prior to the adoption, the legal guardian of the adopted child, if he or they can be found. (4) Where the application is made by the Minister, he shall give notice to the adopter and to the parent or parents, or the person who was, prior to the adoption, the legal guardian of the adopted child, if he or they can be found. (5) The court to which the application is made shall, after having satisfied itself that the applicant has complied with subsection (2), (3) or (4), as the case may be, and after having afforded any person interested in the application an opportunity to be heard, and after having considered any relevant evidence, whether oral or in the form of affidavit, which was tendered in support of or in opposition to the application, rescind or confirm the adoption order: Provided that— (i) the court shall not rescind an adoption order on the application of a parent of the adopted child if it is satisfied that the applicant is unfit to have the custody of the minor and that it is in the interests of the minor that the adoption order be confirmed; (ii) if the application is made on the ground that the minor was suffering from a serious physical defect or that the minor is a mentally disordered or defective person, the court shall not rescind the adoption order unless it is satisfied that the applicant was or, if a husband and wife jointly adopted the minor concerned, they were both at the time of the making of the adoption order ignorant of the physical defect or mental disorder or defect of the minor. (6) On the rescission of an adoption order the adopted child shall for all purposes be restored to the position in which he would have been if no adoption order had been made and the court shall notify the Registrar-General of such rescission: Provided that the rescission shall not affect anything lawfully done while the adoption order was in force. 35