[1] Adams attended Rangitoto College on the North Shore of Auckland, where she was friends with Louise Upston[2] (also later a National Party politician), then graduated from the University of Canterbury with a Bachelor of Laws with First-Class Honours.

The couple live in Aylesbury, close to the fault line and epicentre of the 2010 Canterbury earthquake.

The first two of these are sheep and crop farms in Canterbury, and within the area of the Central Plains Water scheme.

[4] Adams' sister Belinda later worked in the office of Social Development Minister Paula Bennett and was appointed Families Commissioner in 2013.

[11] In 2009 her Fair Trading (Soliciting on Behalf of Charities) Amendment Bill was drawn from the member's ballot.

[12] The bill required fundraising companies to disclose the proportion of funds they passed on to the charities they collect for.

[11] After a reshuffle of cabinet responsibilities caused by the resignation of Nick Smith, Adams was made Minister for the Environment.

[18][19] In June 2019, Adams announced that she would retire from politics at the 2020 general election, and that she would step down from her Shadow Cabinet roles immediately.

While a backbencher, Adams was appointed deputy chair of the committee that considered the Abortion Legislation Bill.

[21] On 2 July 2020, Adams assumed the drug reform portfolio from former National Party deputy leader Paula Bennett, who announced that she would be retiring at the upcoming election.