PAC: NZ surrogate mum may have to pay child support to gay Aust dads
25 Jan 2009 2:20 PM
WELLINGTON, Jan 25 NZPA - A New Zealand surrogate mother could be forced to pay child support for the baby she had for two gay Australian men.
It is understood the year-old surrogate baby girl is being raised by her biological father and his male partner in Queensland, who are her legal guardians, the Sunday Star Times reported.
The Australian government had provided some child support benefits for the father to stay home and care for her, as new parents were entitled.
However, the surrogate was tracked down and asked to contribute, which she has refused to do.
Surrogacy is illegal in Queensland and many other parts of Australia.
Australian funding agencies Centrelink and Child Support Agency confirmed they were likely to seek maintenance payments from a birth mother in New Zealand if the Australian birth father claimed benefits as sole parent caring for their baby.
Family law expert Professor Mark Henaghan, dean of law at Dunedin's Otago University, said surrogates could be forced to pay child support on either side of the Tasman if their babies were not adopted and the intended parents claimed benefits.
Gay male couples were unable to adopt in New Zealand and in most of Australia, which meant the surrogate's name remained on birth certificates and prevented her signing away legal rights to the child, he said.
Guardianship was insufficient to remove the birth mother's legal duties.
"You can't contract out of child support," Prof Henaghan said.
"It's a blanket rule. The circumstances are irrelevant. If you are a parent, unless someone adopts a child, you are the legal parent."
