Individual lesbians and gay men are eligible to apply for adoption in NSW, but same-sex couples are not. This discrimination simply makes no sense and denies children with lesbian and gay parents legal recognition of their families.

The NSW Government has announced a parliamentary inquiry into same-sex adoption. Join our campaign to remove this final piece of same-sex couple discrimination from NSW law.

You can:

• Find out why adoption equality is important 
• Make a submission to the inquiry
• What does the research say about lesbian and gay parenting?

Why is adoption equality important?

In NSW, lesbians and gay men can apply to adopt children as individuals, but not as a same-sex couple. This is because the definition of a 'couple' in the Adoption Act 2000 (NSW) only recognises married and opposite-sex de facto couples. 

In 2008, the NSW Parliament passed important laws to recognise children born to lesbian couples through assisted conception procedures. Whilst these important parentage laws covered most children in same-sex families, some children were not covered.

Children in same-sex foster families, and some children with same-sex step parents and co-parents need adoption to ensure they also have equal rights and protection under the law. For these children, adoption will ensure their parents and families are also legally recognised and that they can have a birth certificate which reflects their family structure.

Same-sex couple adoption reform would ensure children have the benefit of:

• Parental authority. Children in the care of same-sex couples could have two legally-recognised parents empowered to give consent for their medical treatment, take them to hospital, sign school permission notes, and interact with their child care centres and schools.
  
  
• Custody and contact. Children in the care of same-sex couples who were adopted would have more certainty around their care and welfare if a parent dies or their parents separate.
  
  
• Inheritance. Children in the care of same-sex couples who were adopted would have have automatic rights to inherit property and superannuation upon the death of their adoptive parents.
  
  
• Entitlements and responsibilities conferred to parents and children under state and federal legislation. Any legislation which confered rights or responsibilities to a parent or child would be conferred to the adoptive parents and their child. For example, children will have rights to child support and worker’s compensation if an adoptive parent dies or is seriously injured at work.

Whilst most adoptions in Australia concern children known the parents, some adoptions also involve the placing of an unrelated children with a new family. Adoption equality in this area would ensure that same-sex couples would be assessed according to objective criteria - like any other couple or individual - on their ability to provide a stable and loving home to a child.

However, even if NSW reformed its adoption laws, same-sex couples would not be eligible to adopt children from overseas at the present time. This is because the countries which have adoption arrangements with Australia do not presently accept same-sex couples as prospective parents.

Make a submission

The NSW Law and Justice Committee is conducting an inquiry into same-sex couple adoption. Submissions to the adoption inquiry can be submitted online by 13 February 2009.

Submissions can be as long or as short as you like. Personal stories are particularly encouraged. Submissions should address the Terms of Reference which include:

a) ascertaining whether adoption by same sex couples would further the objectives of the Adoption Act 2000
b) the experience in other Australian and overseas jurisdictions that allow the adoption of children by same-sex couples
c) whether there is scope within the existing programs (local and international) for same sex couples to be able to adopt
d) examining the implications of adoption by same sex couples for children, and 
e) if adoption by same sex couples will promote the welfare of children, then examining what legislative changes are required.

Some talking points for your submission may include:

• Research on gay and lesbian parenting. All the credible research confirms that children are not disadvantaged by having lesbian and gay parents. Research has shown that family processes, not family structures, are determinative of children’s wellbeing. That is, the happiness of the relationship between the adults in the home, and the degree of openness, warmth and communication within the family, not the gender or sexuality of the adults, has the most significant impact on the child.
  
  
• Practical impacts of discrimination. Discrimination against same-sex couples hurts children with gay and lesbian parents by denying legal and social recognition to their families. Legal recognition would give same-sex parents the power to consent to medical treatment for their child, sign permission notes and exercise parental authority without question or the need for court orders. Children can also miss out on inheritance entitlements.
  
  
• Inconsistency in the law. It makes no sense to allow individual lesbians and gay men to apply for adoption, but not same-sex couples.
   
• Same-sex couples are foster carers. Same-sex couples have been actively recruited as foster carers for many years, and provide wonderful foster care for children in need.
   
• Discrimination fuels social myths and prejudice. Discrimination against gays and lesbians in adoption law perpetuates hurtful myths that lesbians and gay men pose a risk to children. This reflects unfairly on the valuable contributions of many same-sex parents, and all lesbians and gay men who work with children as teachers, youth workers and carers.
  
  
• Same-sex families have recognition in many Australian jurisdictions. Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory have same-sex adoption equality. Tasmania also allows same-sex couples to adopt a partner’s child. New South Wales and the Northern Territory recognise children born to lesbian couples through assisted reproductive technology. The Commonwealth Family Law Act also recognises same-sex families.
  
  
• Adoption is the last area of discrimination against same-sex couples. Since 1999, NSW has progressively removed all discrimination against same-sex couples – adoption being the last significant area of discrimination.

Brenna (pictured right) is much like any other 12-year-old girl. She likes to dance, is a prefect at her school and has been succesful in securing a place at a highly-regarded selective public school.

Brenna has two mums - but only one is legally recognised in NSW law. Adoption reform would ensure Brenna is given the security of having both her mums legally recognised. This will ensure Brenna is entitled to the same inheritance protections as other children. Adoption reform would give both her mums the power to take her to hospital if she is ill and sign school permission notes. Without adoption reform, one half of Brenna's family will remain legally invisible.