Tue 29 Mar 2016 In: Our Communities View at Wayback View at NDHA
In December, a groundbreaking adoption case saw an Auckland judge grant all same-sex couples eligibility to be granted joint adoption orders, however the Human Rights Review Tribunal recently declared New Zealand’s adoption laws to be discriminatory and have called for legislative change. We talk to one of the people leading this push for change, Green MP Kevin Hague, to clarify what the situation is currently for LGBTI couples wishing to adopt. “The situation we have reached on adoption is that there's now no discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation,” says Kevin, acknowledging Decembers groundbreaking ruling. He explains that both married and de-facto couples can be considered as adoptive parents. With the passing of the Marriage Amendment Act, same-sex married couples were granted the right to adopt in August 2013 however the current adoption act has prevented, until December’s ruling, the same right to be afforded to same-sex de facto couples. “There is a slight legal uncertainty over civil unions couples, but that will only last until the first case, and both same sex and different sex couples are in the same boat,” says Kevin. “However, while that's what the Courts have ruled the law must be interpreted to mean, the Statute as written still is worded in a discriminatory way, and has many other obsolete and unhelpful features.” Earlier this month the Human Rights Review Tribunal declared provisions of both the Adoption Act 1955 and Adult Adoption Information Act 1985 inconsistent with the right to be free from discrimination under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act. With current legislation preventing civil union partners and same-sex de facto the Tribunal said the The Adoption Act “no longer reflects New Zealand’s values and practices.” Kevin says this is an area he is very interested in, “That's why I have had a bill in the ballot since 2012 to completely modernise adoption law.” Substantive law reforms to New Zealand’s adoption laws were initiated in 1979, 1987, 1988 and 1990 and in 2000 the Law Commission’s report ‘Adoption and its Alternatives’ recommended wide ranging reforms. The Commission’s recommendations are the basis of Kevin’s adoption Amendment Bill. The Amendment Bill currently in the ballot would allow for the following changes to be made to adoption: - The best interests of the child would become the central consideration in decision making. - Applicants who wish to adopt would no longer face automatic ineligibility on grounds of age, sexuality, gender or relationship status. This ensures that the widest possible pool of parents could have the opportunity to care for a child. - A process would be set that enables social workers and the Family Court to determine whether an individual or couple would be the best parents for a child. - All adoptions would be made open, unless in exceptional circumstances specific criteria are met that demonstrate a need for a severing of the links with biological parents. - Requirements would be set for a parent, or parents, to follow when entering into an altruistic surrogacy arrangement, and when seeking to have that child legally recognised as being a part of their family. - Similarly, scenarios would be provided for where a parent or couple may adopt a child who is a product of an overseas altruistic surrogacy arrangement, through the New Zealand adoption process. - Arrangements providing for the care of children in New Zealand would finally be found in just one statute and the law will be unified. - Adoption legislation would be consistent with other family legislation so that parties to an adoption benefit from the same protections as those involved in proceedings under more modern legislation. GayNZ.com Daily News staff - 29th March 2016
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 29th March 2016 - 1:07pm