Co-parents ‘need legal advice’
A gay couple in Queensland has been granted leave to apply for parental access to a child to whom they have no biological connection.
The couple had been involved in a family-like relationship with a lesbian couple, referred to in court documents as Ms Fabian and Ms Halifax, who split over a year ago.
The men, who cannot be named, donated sperm to Halifax to conceive the couple’s first child, now aged seven, and were involved with the couple’s second child, who was born to Fabian using donor sperm.
Although they have no biological connection to the second child, they proved to the Family Court that they are people “concerned with the care, welfare or development of the child”.
The couple had been involved with the child from the outset. They were invited to sonogram appointments, attended the naming ceremony and had been introduced to the children and family friends as fathers.
GLBT family law expert Paul Boers has advised couples entering co-parenting relationships to seek legal advice.
“I advise women to be cautious about written [co-parenting] agreements. A written agreement just setting out the roles of everybody is not legally enforceable, and might actually be used in court as evidence to establish care and welfare,” he told Sydney Star Observer.
A court order, obtained as soon as the child is born, is the safest way to establish roles for donors.
“If the donor is to have some sort of parenting role, you can get a court order conferring parental responsibility, or you can have a court order giving all of [involved] parental responsibility,” he explained.
“I would advise lesbian mums, get both of yourselves registered on the birth certificate. You can’t prevent the sperm donor from bringing a [parental] application, but he would have to establish his level of care for the welfare and development of the child.”
Fabian has been ordered to remain in Queensland pending the outcome of the case.
info: For legal advice on gay and lesbian parenting matters, contact the Inner City Legal Centre on 9332 1966.
I’m quite uncertain as to why gay men and lesbians go down this fraught route for having children when there are so many children already out there who need a good foster family.
In Queensland we need all of these:
* Implement an truly equal age of consent (currently it is 18 for anal sex, 16 for both oral and vaginal sex);
* IVF parentage for lesbians who have children (already lesbians and single women have access to IVF);
* Making Surrogacy legal (altrustic only, commercial surrogacy should still be illegal) and;
* Setting up a relationship register (based on the Tasmanian model). NSW should also set up a relationship register.
Now in regards to adoption the Adoption Act 2009 (244 pages long) it is only new and only allows both individuals and opposite gender couples (both married and de facto) is very clear on this quote under the act: “is not the same gender as the person” [written 3 times under that act]. There is still not enough support for reform to allow “same gender couples” to adopt in QLD.
http://www.childsafety.qld.gov.au/legislation/adoption/review.html
http://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/LEGISLTN/ACTS/2009/09AC029.pdf
Yes, interesting. Sad for all concerned with the collapse of their family ideals – and cautionary for the rest of us, not to enter agreements lightly.
Great advice and an interesting case unfolding.