REARCHAMP lcmids

• Para 1 context

  Legislation

  • Adoption Amendment Act 2010 (NSW) → Amended the Adoption Act 2000 (NSW)
• Para 1: Evaluation 1

  • Protecting the rights of the child 

  →  “The NSW government recognises that same-sex parents… are capable of providing loving and stable homes for children” (SMH, 2010)
• Para 1: Evaluation 2

  • Enforceability

  → CROC 1989, Article 21 “A blanket ban on adoption by same-sex couples prevents… individual child’s best interests”
• Para 3 context:

  •  Family Law Amendment (Shared Parental Responsibility) Act 2006 (Cth) 
  • The Family Law Amendment Act 2024 (Cth)
• Para 3 evaluation 1

  • Responsive

  “The government has listened to and acted on concerns about safety which have been expressed over many years” The Guardian, 2024 article
• Para 3 evaluation 2

  • Inconsistent 
  • “It will be harder for the dads to get equal shared parental responsibility, and if they want it the burden will be on them to prove they can cooperatively parent”(LSJ,2023)
• Para 4 context

  •  Matrimonial Causes Act 1959 (Cth) (Repealed) 
  • Family Law Act 1975 (Cth)
• Para 4 evaluation 1

  • Resource efficient 
  • 95% of divorces are settled outside of the family court(Fogelman Law, 2021)
  • Protects the rights of the couple
  • Hence, this act is highly effective in achieving justice for couples facing separation, due to the nature of the act in granting couples ‘the kiss and makeup clause’ under section 50 as well as removing the need to find fault.
• Para 4 evaluation 2 Enforceability

  Easterfela and Giannopolous(2013), did not meet the required ‘separation period’
• Para 2 context:

  • The Surrogacy Act 2010 (NSW) has been mostly effective in achieving justice for families through the regulation of altruistic surrogacy.
  • Parents of children born via surrogacy are given legal recognition through parentage orders.
• para 2 evaluation 1:

  • (+) “Until now the only way people with children born through surrogacy have been able to gain full parenting rights has been through adoption processes.” (SMH, 2015). Therefore, the Surrogacy Act 2010 (NSW) improves accessibility for surrogate parents by making the process of gaining parental responsibility more efficient as commissioning parents do not have to endure the long process of adoption.
• para 2 evaluation 2:

  • (+/-)The Act establishes criteria that are required to be met in order to qualify for surrogacy: couples must undergo counselling, have criminal record checks. However, this has not been adequately enforced. Case of Baby Gammy in 2014: Parents commissioned surrogacy by mother in Thailand. Left Baby Gammy behind, only taking one child. The non surrogate father had previously been convicted of sexual assault (could potentially endanger the rights of the child)
• para 2 LCMID 2:

  • The head of Surrogacy Australia stated: “It’s so complicated because the laws differ for each state…you can’t pay a surrogate, there’s no protection for you after the birth if the surrogate wants to keep the child”- this has resulted in many Australians going overseas to find surrogates, making it difficult to fully criminalise commercial surrogacy (TimeBase, 2014)