Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Act 2021

Registration of information - Births - Notification of births

14: Who must notify birth of child found abandoned in New Zealand

You could also call this:

"Notifying the birth of an abandoned newborn in New Zealand"

Illustration for Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Act 2021

You must tell a Police employee if you are in charge of a child and you believe the child is recently born and was found abandoned in New Zealand. You need to do this if you are not sure that the Registrar-General has been told about the birth. The Police employee must then tell the Registrar-General about the child. You can find more information about this by looking at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM364099. The Police employee has a role in this process. They must notify the Registrar-General if they are told about a child being found.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM7273625.

This page was last updated on 6 December 2025 — View changes

Topics:

Family and relationships > Children and parentingGovernment and voting > Government departments

13: Notification of birth in New Zealand must include name information, or

"Telling officials about a birth in New Zealand requires giving a surname and other names for the child."

15: Any person may notify birth that occurs outside New Zealand on New Zealand ship or New Zealand aircraft, or

"Notifying births on New Zealand ships or planes outside New Zealand"

Part 2Registration of information
Births: Notification of births

14Who must notify birth of child found abandoned in New Zealand

A person who has charge of a child must tell a Police employee as soon as practicable if the person—
believes that the child—
1. is recently born; and
2. was found abandoned in New Zealand; and
is not satisfied that the Registrar-General has been notified of the birth.

The Police employee must notify the Registrar-General if notified of the finding of a child under subsection (1).

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