Gay Dads Australia

Stephen Page, who is one of the best GLBTI legal bloggers around continues his excellent series of posts relating to  Surrogacy in Australia (and for Aussies heading overseas for Surrogacy).  This posting by Stephen relates to the Family Court cases relating to Surrogacy in Australia, and is a great read (albeit full of legal aspects).  Stephen’s blog can be found here (http://lgbtlawblog.blogspot.com)

In 2008 there were amendments to the Family Law Act to recognise children born in Australia as children of the parties under the Family Law Act, but only if there were State or Territory laws allowing a parenting order, and that order had been made. It should be noted at this point that different rules may apply in Western Australia to the rest of Australia. As seen below, there have been some nightmare cases involving surrogacy.
As Justice Crisford stated in the Family Court of Western Australia:

In recent years the use of artificial insemination procedures has risen dramatically, both here and overseas. They were once procedures of last resort for infertile heterosexual married couples. They have now become a mainstream solution for various reproductive challenges including absence of a heterosexual partner. New groups such as single women seeking to raise a child alone, same sex couples and gay men who have arranged for a mother to carry their child have used these procedures.

Whilst technology has grown and the ambit of artificial insemination procedures has expanded the legal system lags behind. This can lead to complicated child custody disputes between the parties.

Some of the cases refer to leave to adopt. Getting leave to adopt is a first step in the adoption process. Leave can only be obtained form the Family Court.

The cases I have written about are from the Family Court. I was unable to find any Federal Magistrate Court cases.

Read more…

The Federal Government in its how to websites has not warned Australians that they might risk prosecution in Australia  for engaging in overseas surrogacy arrangements.

The risk of prosecution was highlighted again a week ago when Queensland passed new surrogacy laws, which criminalise those ordinarily resident in Queensland from accessing overseas commerical surrogacy clinics.

Similarly, if residents of the ACT access overseas commerical surrogacy clinics, they also commit an offence and are at risk of being prosecuted.

No doubt because these are the countries that Australians go to the most for commerical surrogacy, the Federal Government has set up websites at theAustralian Embassy in Washington and the Australian High Commission in New Delhi containing  how to guides for those contemplating overseas commercial surrogacy.

On neither of the sites is there any mention that it is an offence for a resident of Queensland or the ACT to engage in a commerical surrogacy agreement overseas, nor whether the Department of Immigration and Citizenship will refer people to Queensland or ACT authorities for prosecution. The Department in its Australian Citizenship Instructions likewise makes no mention that ACT or Queensland residents accessing commercial surrogacy clinics overseas commit offences in the ACT or Queensland respectively, nor whether these residents will be referred by Departmental officials to ACT or Queensland authorities for investigation and/or prosecution. 

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