Dear Dr Cressida Limon

Child’s right to have a legally recognised father

This document explains how current family law negatively affects my family, with the aim of obtaining changes to fix unintended, yet unjust, discriminatory consequences.

In December 2008 Section 60H of the Family Law Act was repealed and replaced with retrospective legislation. From 2010 the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 2008 (Vic) started operating and amendments were made to the Status of Children Act 1974 (Vic) and the Births, Deaths and Registration Act 1996 (Vic).

In combination, this legislation serves to deny my daughter of her father.

My daughter (D) was conceived using IVF and born in April 2011. D’s mother and I (her father), are both gay and we have a co-parenting agreement that began in 2008. At that time, it was possible for a consenting man who donated semen to be on a birth certificate.

Now, despite the full consent of D’s mother, the legislation prevents D from having her father on her birth certificate. D now has only one parent on the certificate, and no recognised father. D is discriminated against because her mother and father are gay and needed to use IVF to conceive.

D’s mother and I have obtained a Family Court consenting parenting order that allows me shared 'parental responsibility'. But I am still not recognised as D’s legal parent. The situation is distressing and frustrating for both myself and D’s mother.

Practical difficulties already encountered include:

  • Centrelink child support registration;
  • Medicare Card and private health insurance policy inclusion;
  • Child Care enrolment.

It is clearly not in the best interests of my child to be denied a legally recognised father and the legislation fails to reflect the depth of our relationship.

If the birth mother consents, why should a known donor (the biological father) not be permitted to be a legal parent to their child?

I believe the Legislation needs to be more flexible and inclusive, and in my case, restore the right of a child raised in a co-parenting family to have a father.

Yours Sincerely