Overseas adoptions blocked for gay couples
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22176654-421,00.html#
By Jane Bunce
August 02, 2007 12:15pm
Article from: AAP
THE Federal Government is moving to stop gay couples from adopting children from overseas with legislation that would deny the children visas.
The Government will introduce a Bill into parliament in the spring session which begins next week under which overseas adoptions by same-sex couples will not be recognised in Australia.
If it becomes law, the child would not be granted a visa to enter Australia.
The Family Law (Same Sex Adoption) Bill is listed on the Prime Minister and Cabinet department’s website as legislation “proposed for introduction in the 2007 spring sittings”.
It will “amend the Family Law Act 1975 to indicate that adoptions by same sex couples of children from overseas under either bilateral or multilateral arrangements will not be recognised in Australia”.
The new law would override state and territory laws.
At present, overseas adoptions can occur between Australia and other countries that have ratified the Hague convention, or with which Australia has a bilateral agreement.
The move follows the landmark adoption of a boy by two men in Western Australia in June.
Under current laws, state and territory welfare authorities have responsibility for overseeing international adoptions, including negotiating agreements with other countries and assessing and approving prospective adoptive parents.
The adoption by two men of a stranger’s child is believed to be a first for Australia, and was hailed as “groundbreaking” by the WA government and gay rights groups.
WA moved in 2002 to allow same-sex couples to adopt, the ACT passed similar legislation in 2004, and Tasmanian law allows gay couples to adopt where one of the partners is a parent of the child.
Prime Minister John Howard has previously said he does not support gay couples adopting children.
“I don’t support gay adoption, no,” Mr Howard said in response to the ACT’s law change.
“I’m against gay adoption, just as I’m against gay marriage.
“I think there are certain benchmark institutions and arrangements in our society that you don’t muck around with.
“Children ideally should be brought up by a mother and a father who are married. That’s the ideal.”
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