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Qld: Adoption laws overhauled Current as at 10 February 2009 | Courtesy of AAP Changes to adoption laws will give more than 2,700 Queenslanders access to information about their family. Child Safety Minister Margaret Keech said the law changes to be introduced to parliament on Tuesday meant de facto couples could now apply for adoption, open adoptions would be allowed and all those adopted before June 1991 could access their family histories. Ms Keech said currently more then 1,100 people could not access that information and 1,600 birth parents could not learn the names their children had grown up with due to laws that restrict the release of information if one person objects. That information, which includes medical histories, would be available under the new laws, although people could still object to contact being made. "It is clear from the consultation that for many people not knowing these facts can lead to a great deal of pain and suffering," Ms Keech said. "The reforms balance people's right to information about their history yet maintain the rights of others to privacy." The changes bring into line rules for adoptions before and after 1991. Ms Keech said allowing a choice of an open adoption, where a child's birth and adoptive families could know each other from the time of adoption, could benefit families. "Research clearly shows open adoption supports more positive outcomes for adopted children as they develop a positive image of who they are, with the knowledge of both their birth and adoptive parents," she said. The changes meant Queensland no longer had the most restrictive adoption laws in Australia, she said. The new laws are due to start on October 1.
DNA test at birth would end paternity problems: men's group Current as at 11 November 2008 | Courtesy of AAP. Babies should be DNA tested at birth to ensure men are not wrongly named as a child's father, a men's rights group says. Mothers are being made to pay back money to men they wrongly claim fathered their children under changes to child support laws, The Daily Telegraph reports today. The paper says 18 men cleared by DNA testing have sought to get money paid through the federal Child Support Agency returned to them. According to the documents obtained through a freedom of information request, orders for $171,567 have been made against mothers so far, while 300 men have been cleared of being fathers. Men's Rights Agency director Reg Price says a DNA test at birth would stop men being wrongly identified as the father of a child. "We believe that it should be done at birth - they do a blood test now and it would be quite simple to do it at that time," he told Fairfax Radio Network today. "It is absolutely dreadful what is going on out there, and it is quite easy to fix with a test at birth." Mr Price said current laws made it difficult and costly for men to get permission for a DNA test, with court action often necessary. "The big problem is the cost involved," he said. "If (a woman) says that is the case (that they are the father), then a man has to go to court to get permission (for the DNA test)."
Child support payback after wrongful paternity claims Current as at 11 November 2008 | Courtesy of AAP Mothers are being made to pay back money to men they wrongly claim fathered their children under changes to child support laws. Documents obtained by The Daily Telegraph under Freedom of Information laws show 18 men cleared by DNA testing have sought to get money paid through the federal Child Support Agency returned to them. According to the documents, orders for $171,567 have been made against mothers so far, while 300 men have been cleared of being fathers. Men's Rights Agency director Sue Price said men wrongly named as a father of a child deserved justice. But Sole Parent's Union president Kathleen Swinbourne said men should raise doubts about paternity when they are first told of the child. "The money has already been spent on the child; if the mother is forced to pay it back it's hard to imagine the child won't be disadvantaged," she told the Telegraph. The law, which came into effect on January 1 last year, requires the Family Court to consider issuing orders for repayment where paternity has been successfully challenged. Meanwhile, in a move which could affect paternity cases, the federal government is moving to make it illegal for anyone to take hair or saliva for DNA testing without permission. Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus released a discussion paper containing the proposed changes, which could carry a jail term of up to two years, yesterday. "The proposed new offences don't interfere with the use of DNA testing by the police or courts or lawful access to private paternity testing by parents and guardians," he told The Australian. |