This online guide to the issue of Surrogacy for Gay Men is
designed to provide information based on the experience of many gay
men and couples who have created their families via Surrogacy.
It is not an exhaustive guide and any information contained here
should not be taken as legal advice. You should always
seek appropriate legal advice from a qualified practitioner.
Surrogacy is an area where changes occur regularly and as such
information in this guide may be out of date. You are
encouraged to join the Gay Dads email groups and post questions to
see if other have experiences that they can share. In all
cases you should seek professional advice from qualified people in
the relevant jurisdictions.
Surrogacy
refers to an arrangement whereby a woman agrees to become pregnant
for the purpose of gestating and giving birth to a child for others
to raise. She may be the child's genetic mother or not, depending on
the type of arrangement agreed to. The word surrogate just means
appointed to act in the place of.
A surrogate mother is a woman who carries a child for a couple or
single person with the intention of giving that child to that
person/people once the child is born (also called surrogate
pregnancy). The surrogate mother may be the baby's biological mother
(traditional surrogacy) or she may be implanted with someone else's
fertilized egg (gestational surrogacy).
Such an arrangement generally requires legal intervention, as the
laws regarding assisted reproduction differ from state to state and
country to country. It is important that each party in such
arrangements has a clear understanding of the risks involved with
such arrangements. Further information on the legal issues appears
later in this text.
Contracted motherhood agreements can be divided into two categories:
commercial and non-commercial, or “altruistic.” Commercial
contracted motherhood arrangements are those in which the party
seeking a child agree to pay a fee to the surrogate beyond the cost
of her medical needs. In contrast non-commercial or “altruistic”
contracted motherhood arrangements are those where the surrogate
agrees to receive no payment or reward, although it is rare that a
total non-commercial agreement is ever made as it is expected that
the commissioning party will pay the pregnant woman’s medical bills.
Altrustic agreements are often between parties who are family or
friends prior to the arrangement. It is important to note that you
are not “buying” a baby. The payments made to the surrogate are by
way of compensation.
In the United States, the payment for a surrogate mother currently
appears to be in the range between US$20,000 and $25,000, however
the whole procedure can cost AUD$150,000 to $200,000. The fees for
the rest of the process- including fertility clinics; lawyers;
medical fees; and agencies and/or egg donors (if they're used)
generally cost more than the fee going to the surrogate. Gestational
surrogacy costs more than traditional surrogacy, since more
complicated medical procedures are required.
Contrary to popular belief, surrogate mothers are not all poor women
being exploited for their fertility. Many are middle-class women who
want to help make families. They come from all walks of life. Some
are done having children of their own, while some want more children
in the future.
Surrogacy is a method of assisted reproduction.
In some cases it is the only available option for a couple who wish
to have a child that is genetically related to at least one of them.
People who choose surrogacy may be:
* single men or gay male couples
* heterosexual couples who are unable to have children due to a
difficulty suffered by either partner.
* single women or lesbian couples who don't want to go through
pregnancy or artificial insemination
* A female, married or otherwise, who is infertile for some
reason.
These problems may include absent or poorly functioning ovaries,
an absent or malformed uterus, a maternal disease which precludes
pregnancy but not motherhood, recurrent pregnancy loss, or repeated
IVF implantation failures.
It has been suggested that one of the major motivations for turning
to this method of reproduction is the difficulties associated with
adoption in contemporary society. These include the fact that
changes in social attitudes and legislation have led to fewer women
placing their children up for adoption, and couples may wish to
avoid being asked to adopt a child of a different race or having to
go through the difficulties of international adoption. Adoption in
Australia, with the exceptions of certain states, is currently not
an option available to gay male couples.
* Partial or genetic contracted motherhood (also known as
traditional surrogacy), in which the gestational mother is
impregnated with the sperm of the commissioning father (usually
through artificial insemination). In these cases, the gestational
mother is both the genetic and gestational mother of the child,
however she relinquishes her role of social to the commissioning
parents.
* Complete or gestational contracted motherhood (also known as
gestational surrogacy). Using in vitro fertilisation (IVF), the
Intended Parents produce an embryo that can then be transplanted
into the surrogate mother for her to gestate and give birth to after
nine months. In gestational contracted motherhood the pregnant woman
makes no genetic contribution to the child, however she is the
child’s birth mother.
The emotions involved in surrogacy are very strong on both sides.
Mothers need to make sure they have appropriate support before
choosing surrogacy. Support organizations exist for couples choosing
this option.
Research carried out by the Family and Child Psychology Research
Centre at City University, London, UK in 2002 showed surrogate
mothers rarely had difficulty relinquishing rights to a surrogate
child.
Most surrogacies end without problems, with the parents getting
their child(ren). Most stories (especially movie dramas) about the
subject focus on the problems of the practice, and on the conflicts
that may arise from it, but this is rare in reality.
Is surrogacy an option for gay men wanting to be fathers in
Australia? Jenni millbank discusses potential hurdles . This article
appeared in the Sydney Star Observer on 23 February 2006.
A couple of years ago there was a documentary on SBS about two gay
men from Melbourne who had a baby through a surrogacy arrangement in
the US.
It caused a big splash, but there hasn’t been that much information
on surrogacy within Australia since then, even though the ACT has
recently changed its laws to make surrogacy simpler (and
specifically identified gay couples as eligible) and
Victoria is currently considering surrogacy reforms.
This article outlines some of the general issues for gay men
considering parenthood through surrogacy, but anyone considering a
surrogacy arrangement should get detailed legal advice on their
plans before they begin.
The first thing to note is that surrogacy arrangements are
just that – arrangements, not contracts. It is not possible to enter
into a binding surrogacy agreement anywhere in Australia, or to
enforce an agreement that has broken down.
Any dispute about the child will be determined by the child’s best
interests, not by the terms of an agreement.
Most Australian states prohibit payment for surrogacy (“commercial”
surrogacy), advertising for a surrogate or facilitating a surrogacy
agreement (e.g. through an agency).
Even the ACT, which allows non-commercial surrogacy and has
groundbreaking new laws allowing for parental status to be
transferred from the birth mother to the commissioning parents, bans
any form of advertising for a surrogacy arrangement.
So in most of Australia, surrogacy arrangements have to be privately
arranged and involve no fee or payment (although in some places the
cost of medical expenses is allowed).
NSW is unusual because it does not currently have legislation on
surrogacy. At the moment it is not illegal to advertise for or enter
into either a commercial or non-commercial surrogacy agreement that
takes place in NSW – but note that advertising in other states, or
conceiving elsewhere, or even having an agreement with a surrogate
who usually lives in another state, may still be an offence in those
places.
Since 2003 the NSW government has had a law in draft form (the
Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill 2003) but it is not clear if
it will be introduced.
Even if this bill did become law, it would only prohibit commercial
surrogacy and advertising for commercial surrogacy in NSW.
Non-commercial agreements would remain legal in NSW, as would
advertising for them.
This means that NSW is the most permissive of all Australian
jurisdictions, and is likely to remain so even if the law changes.
Surrogacy may take place with the birth mother’s own egg (sometimes
called “partial surrogacy”) or with a donor egg so that the birth
mother is not the genetic mother (“full surrogacy”). Either way, the
birth mother is still a legal mother.
If the conception is going to take place with a donor egg, then IVF
is needed. This means two hurdles: finding an accessible fertility
service, and a woman who will donate an egg in addition to finding a
woman who will be a surrogate.
It is prohibited in all Australian states to pay an egg donor,
although it is acceptable to cover medical expenses. It is legal to
advertise for an egg donor in NSW (although note again it is an
offence in some other states).
In most states, it is not possible to use fertility services to
undertake a surrogacy arrangement, either because surrogacy is
banned or because the law allows access to fertility services only
on the basis of clinical infertility (meaning the birth mother would
need to have a fertility problem, defeating the purpose).
The exceptions once again are the ACT and NSW, where it may be
possible to access privately run fertility services even if not
clinically infertile.
But if classified as fertile, the parties would be ineligible for
Medicare benefits – meaning that the cost per IVF cycle would be
around $10,000. (If the birth mother were to be the genetic mother
and a fertility service was only used for donor insemination rather
than IVF the cost would be around $1,800 per cycle.)
All states still require a sperm donor to sign a “lifestyle
declaration”. Declaring that you have had male-male sex in the past
five years may mean that the service refuses to use your sperm, or
that they require additional storage time and repeat testing. This
is up to the clinical judgment of each service, so is unpredictable.
Once a child is born, there is the further issue of parental status.
Legally, the parents of any child born through assisted conception,
whether surrogacy or otherwise, are the birth mother and her partner
(in the ACT this includes a female partner). A commissioning parent,
even if a biological father, is not a legal parent.
In the ACT the new surrogacy provisions allow for birth parent and
commissioning parents to apply to the ACT Supreme Court for a change
of parental status from the birth parents to the commissioning
parents.
These provisions can be used by gay men, but only if: the
commissioning parents live in the ACT, the child was conceived
through IVF carried out in the ACT, the birth mother is not the
genetic mother (i.e. full surrogacy and not partial surrogacy), at
least one of the commissioning parents is a genetic parent, the
birth mother and her partner both consent, and the baby is between
six weeks and six months at the time of the application.
So far the ACT is the only jurisdiction in Australia to introduce
such provisions, but Victoria is considering something similar.
It is not possible to use adoption orders in NSW to gain parental
status, because privately arranged adoptions are not permitted, and
in any case same-sex couples are not eligible to jointly adopt.
But a lack of automatic parental status does not mean that
commissioning parents have no rights or no way of gaining parental
rights.
Any person concerned with the care, welfare and development of a
child can apply to the Family Court for orders; they do not need to
be a legal or biological parent. It is possible for commissioning
parents to apply to the Family Court for parental responsibility
orders (these grant the right to make major decisions about the
child, such as medical care, applying for a passport and so on) and
for residence or contact orders.
It is not exactly the same as parental status, for example it
doesn’t flow through to areas such as inheritance, but it does say
who is the person or people responsible for the care of the child
and in charge of what happens to them until they turn 18. Such
orders can also remove parental responsibility from the birth mother
and her partner. Such orders can be applied for with the consent of
all parties in a relatively simple process.
The Family Court has made these orders in favour of gay men in
recent years, including men who had a child from surrogacy
arrangements made overseas. Importantly, these orders granted equal
rights to the biological and non-biological father in a gay couple.
The upshot: surrogacy in Australia is very difficult and widely
prohibited. The ACT and NSW are the most conducive to surrogacy
arrangements, but prospective commissioning parents need
considerable resources, would need to be very careful not to break
the laws of their own and other states, and should consider
obtaining parenting orders shortly after birth to formalise their
legal status.
Jenni Millbank is associate professor of Law at the University
of Sydney and special advisor to Watts McCray Family Lawyers. If you
need legal advice you can call Watts McCray on 9635 4266 and speak
to Lorraine to make an appointment.
Surrogacy for Australian Gay Dads is unfortunately something that
generally needs to be done overseas. Most members of Gay Dads
Victoria that have persued surrogacy have persued it in the US via
an organisation called Growing Generations [www.growinggenerations.com].
It is not a easy process, but also it is not that difficult. The
comments in this manual are taken from members experience using
Growing Generations. Although there are other agencies in the US
that handle surrogacy for gay men, many of the issues and processes
will be the same.
The best place to get started is by talking to other gay men who
have undertaken the process. You can meet and chat to us by joining
our discussion list at the Gay Dads Victoria website [www.gaydadsvic.com].
You should also visit the Growing Generations website [www.growinggenerations.com]
to find out more information. We recommend that as a first act is
that you call Growing Generations and have a chat to them.
You will need to plan at least 2 trips to the US during the
surrogacy process. Many gay dads make several more trips during the
process and pregnancy. The most common trips to the US are:
• Initial Meeting at Growing Generations in California.
• Match Meeting with your potential Surrogate in California.
Some members have been able to conduct this meeting over the
phone, however it appears that Growing Generations prefer a face
to face meeting.
• Meeting with Fertility Clinic for Consultation and Semen
Deposit and Analysis in California.
• Visit to the Fertility Clinic with your Surrogate for the
In-vitro Fertilization procedure in California.
• Visits to the US to see you surrogate during the pregnancy.
This visit will be in your surrogate's home state, which may not
be California.
• Visit to the US for the birth. The birth will be in the
Surrogate's home state.
The Contract is the first commitment that you will make. It is a
long and wordy contract as you would expect. It is important that
you read it and understand what you are committing to. Speak to
others who have been through surrogacy and do not hesitate to
contact Growing Generations if you have any questions.
There are other agreements and contracts that you will be required
to sign during the process. There will be agreements in relation to
Insurance. These are particularly important. Unlike Australia, there
is no universal health coverage in the United States. Insurance is
essential. It is not cheap but necessary.
This can be an exciting and emotional time for intended parents.
Meeting your surrogate for the first time is a chance to get to know
each other, and ultimately agree to work together. Finding a
surrogate can take anywhere from 1 month to 6 months (or longer).
Surrogates can come from a number of states outside California,
however you can request one in California if that is your
preference. Be warned that this may mean that your match will take
longer.
Women who choose to be surrogates are screened by Growing
Generations from a health and psychology perspective. The match
meeting is your chance to screen them, and they you. You will
generally be guided by a case worker from Growing Generations prior
to your match meeting and they will help you develop a series of
questions to ask during the meeting. The meetings are mediated by
your case worker, however usually if things go well, the intended
parents and the surrogate will continue talking after the meeting in
a cafe or the like. This is a good idea as it gives both parties a
further opportunity to get to know each other.
Some intended parents have been able to conduct their match meeting
over the phone instead of face to face.
Choosing an Egg Donor is another step you must take. There are
numerous agencies that provide egg donor services and you should
“shop” around. Egg donors can cost from US$8000 upwards. Previous
egg donors often charge higher fees. You will generally get full
personality, educational and medical profiles of the egg donor
together with photographs. Some agencies also provide videos.
An Egg Donor is a very personal choice. In many cases the egg donor
that is chosen results in a successful pregnancy, however some
members have had to select a second egg donor later, due to
difficulties relating to successfully becoming pregnant.
The transfer procedure is another one of those emotional and
challenging times. The intended parents and the surrogate attend the
fertility clinic together for the procedure. Sometimes, the intended
parents are not present and the surrogate alone attends. This is
common if you don't become pregnant the first time.
Intended parents need to be realistic about the chances of becoming
pregnant the first time. Many of us have been successful at the
first attempt, however there are many others for whom repeated
attempts are required before a pregnancy occurs.
Once you find out that your surrogate is pregnant the next phase of
the journey begins. Like in non-IVF procedures, pregnancy can fail
for a number of reasons. This is true of surrogacy too. The first 3
months are usually the time of greatest risk so it is important to
keep perspective.
You will be thousands of miles away from your surrogate and
communication by email or phone becomes essential. It is recommend
that you discuss the sort of level of communication you will have
early on to make sure your relationship with your surrogate thrives.
For the intended parents, managing the pregnancy can be difficult.
After all, you are half a world away and not present for the day to
day life of your surrogate. Come to an understanding early on about
how regularly your surrogate will visit her doctor.
The first 3 months are usually governed by the contract that the
surrogate has signed but after that you are on your own. Surrogates
usually have had children before and know a lot about pregnancy.
The
Birth is the most amazing part of the journey (though not the end of
it!). You will most likely be present at the birth but you will need
to make arrangements with the hospital well in advance. You will be
in the US for at least a week after the birth obtaining passports,
court orders and other things so plan you accommodation keeping in
mind you will have a new born baby with you.
In all this, one thing we have learned is that even though you are
using an agency like Growing Generations, it is important (indeed
necessary) that you Project Manage the entire process. You need to
proactive in all your dealings with agencies, doctors, insurance
etc. Don't assume anything, always check it out.
All babies born through surrogacy in the United States are entitled
to US citizenship themselves.
They will have an American birth certificate (certificate of live
birth) and unless separate adoption procedures or court orders
overrule this, will show the surrogate as the ‘mother’ on the birth
certificate, and (usually) the intended father who provided the
sperm as the ‘father’.
In some cases dependant on the relative US State laws, it may be
necessary for a pre-birth judgement to be obtained regarding the
actually paternity, especially when the surrogate is married. This
is because some relevant state laws dictate that the husband of the
woman giving birth should automatically be recognised as the
‘father’. Another way to establish paternity is a post-birth
judgement. It is important to explore which option is correct for
your situation by seeking local legal advice well before delivery.
To obtain a US passport for your child, you must first have obtained
the relevant paperwork from the birth hospital, which they prepare
for the ultimate issuance of your child’s formal birth certificate.
This paperwork is sent to either the relevant local authority or
State capital (once they have the paternity orders if relevant) and
it is paramount that you work with the hospital in advance, so that
they speed up this process as soon as your child is born so that
everything happens within days, not the usual weeks.
Further to the application of a US passport, there are going to be
numerous forms that as new parents, you’ll need to complete over the
coming months. We have detailed some below but you do need to do
your own research. Download/obtain as many forms as possible in
advance. Take them all with you to the birth. Ask you surrogate to
sign as many of the applicable ones as possible. If you need
authorities, check out what’s necessary there too and type up
appropriate letters for your surrogate to consider/sign. Make sure
there’s no clashes with maiden names/married names and react
accordingly. Think things through.
Throughout some of the US processes, you will need certain paperwork
witnessed by the US equivalent of a Justice of the Peace, called a
Notary Public, and they are useful for having documents
authenticated such as when the surrogate gives permission for the
application for a passport, baby to travel etc. In California at
least, they can be found in US Post Offices, or the sub-outlets of
these (usually privately owned). Notaries can also be found in
Australia.
Once you’ve obtained the preliminary paperwork from the relevant
local authority, you can then head along the way of obtaining a US
passport for your child.
You will need a photograph of your child with their eyes open (not
so easy), facing directly at the camera with a white background (oh
and whilst not wearing either a hat or sunglasses either). A digital
shot is best as it can be resized appropriately by a developer to
further fit within the guidelines, and more than one copy of the
same image can be produced quickly at the same time. Depending on
your timing you may try to stand over your baby who is lying on a
white-sheet bed in the hospital, or head to a post office where
you’d hope they’d appreciate the difficulty of it all and take a few
goes of getting that perfect snapshot.
If you are planning to leave the USA before 6 weeks or so (which
most of us do), you will need to utilise an Expediting service so
that you receive your child’s passport in time. These services will
pretty much turn successful applications around within a week. Of
course you pay an expedition fee for such services, but generally it
is all well worth it. These companies’ branches are usually based in
major cities such as Washington, Dallas, San Francisco, etc. and you
will need to have the relevant paperwork approved by a local postal
office (usually) before couriering the completed application over to
the regional office.
Usually, both parents from the birth certificate are needed to be
present at the authorised accepting office (post office) to prove
that both consent to the application of the child’s passport. Check
out the conditions of the expediting service. You can provide
written authority from the other parent (usually the surrogate) at
times, especially when she may still be in hospital recovering from
the birth.
Expediting services include: http://www.americanpassport.com (this
is the service that a number of us have used); and
http://www.visa4you.net/child-passport-1.htm (which we have not
used).
You will find very detailed instructions on the website.
In most US states, you’ll need an attorney to attend to the
surrogate relinquishing her parental rights in your favour. In some
states that can be arranged in advance of the birth (or, in
California for example, you can get a pre-birth judgment placing
both dads on the birth certificate.) Whatever, you’ll need an
attorney for all of that, and GG will normally provide a referral if
required. Most Australian Intended Parents arrange most of these
matters with their attorney a few months before the birth, although
the final orders are often made after the birth. Your surrogate will
also require her own independent legal advice (of course, you pay
for this, but it won’t cost too much).
Obtaining an Australian passport for your child whilst in the States
Whether or not you obtain an Australian passport for your child
before or after you depart the US, your child will be eligible for
an Australian passport if either parent (as disclosed by the birth
certificate) is an Australian citizen. Your child will be granted
Australian citizenship by descent (more on that later).
As for obtaining one within a few weeks after birth, this has been
investigated by a few of us over time. In every case that we are
aware of, a passport has not been issued until the families are back
home in Australia.
Usually because it simply takes far too long to process the passport
application.
If one or both of the parents listed on the Certificate of Live
Birth is an Australian citizen, then Australian citizenship via
descent for your child is pretty much a given.
Your child does not have to surrender their US citizenship. They
will be dual citizens.
Find out more via your local DIMMI office: see details on
Once you have the citizenship, you can register your child for a
Medicare card at the local Medicare office and apply for a passport
as normal. It will save time, if the surrogate’s name is on the
birth certificate, to have her sign and witness the forms needed for
the Australian passport application before you leave the US. These
can also be downloaded at the DIMMI website.
Most babies have traveled on a tourist visa, which of course is only
valid for up to three months. One condition of such a visa is an
intention to depart Australia before the visa expires.
When completing the immigration paperwork in anticipation of your
arrival, you will be asked to answer whether your child intends to
stay in Australia for more than three months (the length permitted
by a tourist visa). This is obviously a deliberate question.
Some have chosen to say yes, and if taken to task, would explain
that their child will absolutely obtain Australian citizenship via
descent within the three months anyway.
Others have answered no, and felt that they were not making a false
declaration, as they would have taken the child back to the USA if
the Australian citizenship had not been recognised.
There are risks with both. This is an important question you need to
make once fully informed.
If one or both of the parents listed on the Certificate of Live
Birth is an Australian citizen, then Australian citizenship via
descent for your child is pretty much a given.
Your child does not have to surrender their US citizenship. They
will be dual citizens.
Find out more via your local DIMMI office: see details on
http://www.citizenship.gov.au/
Once you have the citizenship, you can register your child for a
Medicare card at the local Medicare office and apply for a passport
as normal.
It will save time, if the surrogate’s name is on the birth
certificate, to have her sign and witness the forms needed for the
Australian passport application before you leave the US. These can
also be downloaded at the DIMMI website.
After you’ve obtained Australian citizenship for your child, you
can then apply for an Australian passport. If one of the parents
(usually the surrogate) on the birth certificate is not one of the
child’s social parents, then you will need to provide evidence to
the relevant authority as to why that parent cannot sign the
application.
At least one Australian gay couple has done this and their evidence
was accepted.
Alternatively you can have your surrogate sign the relevant
applications/paperwork whilst you are in the States.
Adding the new baby to your Medicare card is quite straight forward.
In fact your child can be added to both parent’s Medicare cards
regardless of who is genetically linked to the child.
To add new baby to your card you will need to go to your Medicare
office and complete an Enrolment Application Form and supply
Acceptable Identification Documents. If you cannot get to your
Medicare office you need to post a completed Enrolment Application
Form with certified copies of the Identification Documents to
Medicare, GPO Box 9822, in your capital city. Enrolment Application
Form's can be downloaded to print from http://www.hic.gov.au/yourhealth/forms/mf.htm
or are available from Medicare offices or you can request a form to
be posted to you by calling 132 011.
To add your partner to your Medicare card you will need to go to
your Medicare office and complete a Copy/Transfer Application form.
If you cannot get to your Medicare office you need to post a
completed form to Medicare, GPO Box 9822, in your capital city.
Copy/Transfer Application forms must be signed by both the card
holder and the person being transferred. Copy/Transfer Application
forms are available from your Medicare office or you can request a
form to be posted to you by calling 132 011.
Call in to your local Maternal & Child Healthcare Centre before your
child is born. Ask for a ‘Yellow’ Book (they’re now actually blue),
which will be used by them and you to chart many things over your
child’s early years, including: their immunisations; growth rates,
average comparisons etc.
Take the book to the birth so any immunisations at birth will be
recorded. As soon as you have your child on a Medicare Card, your
Centre (or local Doctor) will forward details to the National
Immunisation Register.
It appears in this world of ‘family values’ that gay parents with
kids can actually enjoy government incentives and financial
assistance at times, once we create a family.
It has been suggested that the Maternity Payment may apply to us.
The Maternity Payment is a one-off payment of $3,042 paid as a lump
sum to families following the birth or adoption (including
stillborn) of a baby born on or after 1 July 2004.
Maternity Payment replaces the existing Maternity Allowance and
the Baby Bonus. Maternity Payment is intended to benefit the primary
carer. A natural parent or an adoptive parent or a long-term foster
carer or in some cases more than one of these could qualify in
respect of the one baby.
A claim must be lodged within 26 weeks from the date of birth and
applicants must meet eligibility requirements within 13 weeks of the
baby coming into the care of the claimant.
Maternity Payment is payable to:
•A parent of a baby if the parent meets all other eligibility
criteria at any time within 13 weeks of the baby's birth; or
•A parent of a stillborn baby if the parent would have met all the
other criteria if the baby had not been stillborn; or
•A claimant who is entrusted with the care of a newborn baby if the
claimant meets all other eligibility criteria within 13 weeks of the
baby's birth and if the claimant is likely to continue to have care
of the child for no less than 13 weeks; or
•A claimant who, before a baby is 26 weeks of age, has the baby
entrusted to their care because the claimant will be adopting the
baby, provided the claimant meets all other eligibility criteria
within 13 weeks of the baby coming into the care of the claimant.
The other eligibility criteria for Maternity Payment are generally
that:
•the claimant and the baby must meet Australian residency
requirements(1)
•the claimant must be legally responsible, either alone or with
another adult, for the day-to-day care, welfare and development of
the baby(2); and
•the claimant must satisfy tax file number requirements(3); and
•the claimant must lodge an effective claim within 26 weeks of the
baby's birth or, in the case of adopting parents, within 26 weeks of
the baby coming into their care.
Maternity Payment in the main is payable to one eligible claimant,
with the default payee being the mother. However, in some cases
(mainly if there is a change of care), the Secretary has the
discretion to split the payment between two or more eligible
individuals by determining a percentage for each person. In
determining the percentages to be paid in respect of a particular
baby, the total amount of Maternity Payment for one baby is not to
be exceeded. Maternity Payment cannot be apportioned between two
members of the same couple.
You can get a claim form from your nearest Medicare office. I can’t
find one on the Medicare website.
I am submitting this additional material in support of the
application for the Commonwealth government’s Maternity Payment.
This note, together with the accompanying material, is attached to
the Claim form.
Explanation of attachments:
1. Birth Certificate – this is the certificate issued by the State
of Iowa, USA. It is called a Certificate of Live Birth.
2. Proof of Australian residence – I have provided my Daughter’s US
passport which discloses her entry into Australia on 31 August 2005.
3. Extract of Register of Citizenship by Descent (copy)*
4. Decree Terminating Parental Rights, Iowa District Court (copy)*.
*Further explanation
I am the natural father of my daughter, Lucinda Linden Matthews
Wood. Lucinda has been in the full custody and care of my partner
and myself since her birth on 19 August 2005. She returned with us
to Australia on 31 August 2005. She was 12 days old when she arrived
in Australia. Because she was born outside Australia, Lucinda
travelled into Australia on a US passport. Lucinda has subsequently
received certification of Australian Citizenship by Descent
(registered on 24 November 2005 – No. ROC-123456). A copy of her
Extract from Register of Citizenship by Descent is also attached.
Although additional information is not requested in the Claim form,
it may assist by way of background, that Lucinda’s birth mother (Junoa
Lavaine Thomas) had her parental rights and responsibilities
terminated by way of Court order of the District Court of Iowa on 31
October 2005. A copy of the Decree Terminating Parental Rights in
the Iowa District Court for Polk County, is also attached.
If the Family Assistance Office requires any further information
regarding this application, I can be contacted on.
Surrogacy
refers to an arrangement whereby a woman agrees to become pregnant
for the purpose of gestating and giving birth to a child for others
to raise. She may be the child's genetic mother or not, depending on
the type of arrangement agreed to. The word surrogate just means
appointed to act in the place of.
The
Birth is the most amazing part of the journey (though not the end of
it!). You will most likely be present at the birth but you will need
to make arrangements with the hospital well in advance. You will be
in the US for at least a week after the birth obtaining passports,
court orders and other things so plan you accommodation keeping in
mind you will have a new born baby with you.