Latest news with #parentingorder
RNZ News
7 days ago
- RNZ News
Judge's heartfelt letter to teen in custody battle - 'Maybe one day I will watch you play for the Warriors'
By Catherine Hutton, Open Justice reporter of Justice Andrew Becroft. Photo: Open Justice / Supplied via NZME A High Court judge has written a letter to a teenager caught in the middle of a bitter custody battle, revealing his dislike of maths as a teenager and his love for the Warriors. The letter, which recorded the judge's decision of an appeal to an interim parenting order, was written by Justice Andrew Becroft to the 14-year-old personally, explaining his reasons, instead of a regular court judgment. According to the letter, a Family Court judge determined in November that the teenager should live with his father overseas, believing that was what the young man wanted. But as time went on, the teenager changed his mind. When it was time to leave the country, he refused to get into his mother's car and even ran away from home for a time. In February, a second Family Court judge agreed the teenager should live with his father, issuing a court order to put him on the plane, by force if necessary. Upon hearing that, the letter says, the young man got upset and hit the wall, forcing the judge to "leave very quickly". Before last month's hearing, the teenager asked to meet him. Although this was an unusual request, Justice Becroft noted the teenager's views were important, "that is what the law says". During the 45-minute meeting, which a court registrar and the teenager's lawyer were also present for, Justice Becroft said the young man made it clear he did not want to move overseas to live with his father, preferring instead to stay at school with his friends and play rugby. "You said that you will not get onto the plane. No one can make you do that, and you were not going to go. You were very clear about that. You said that to me several times. I understood it." But the young man did agree to visit his father during school holidays, noting that things had improved at school, partly because he was now taking ADHD medication. "You like PE. You do not like maths. (And as I said, neither did I at your age.)" But the judge said he'd made it clear to the young man that he didn't have the job or the burden of deciding the case. "I said you were caught up in the middle. It is not your problem". That responsibility fell to his parents and their lawyers, who were tasked with coming up with a resolution to the appeal. When it came to recording what had been agreed, Justice Becroft, a former Principal Youth Court judge and former Children's Commissioner, wrote to the teenager, addressing him with the pseudonym "Claude". He said the teenager would stay at his school, visiting his father overseas during school holidays. Justice Becroft said the teenager's parents had promised to make it work and would stop saying bad things about each other in their son's presence. A final decision on the teenager's custody arrangement is expected to be made by the Family Court later this year. Judge: That try by Leka Halasima was 11/10 The judge concluded his letter saying how much he had enjoyed meeting the young man. "I hope the Warriors do a lot better in the next couple of weeks. And I agree that try by Leka Halasima was 10/10. As I said to you, I thought it was 11/10. "Sport is important. You keep up your involvement in sport. That will give you a good basis to do well in life. I am glad you enjoy it. "Maybe one day I will sit in my lounge and watch Claude play for the Warriors. That would make me and all of us very, very happy and proud of you. I wish you well for the future." He ended his letter; "Warm Regards, Justice Andrew Becroft." This story originally appeared in the [ New Zealand Herald].
ABC News
20-06-2025
- ABC News
Australian couple won't face prosecution after using alleged commercial surrogacy service to have baby abroad
A Queensland couple who was referred to authorities over allegations they used commercial surrogacy overseas to have a baby, will not be charged, police have confirmed. The decision has been welcomed by surrogacy advocates who argue Australia's patchwork of laws were "not fit for purpose" and should be changed. Last month, the ABC revealed Queensland police were making "inquiries" after a federal court ordered documents be referred to authorities to consider whether the couple should be prosecuted. "It is not in contention that the applicants have entered into a commercial surrogacy arrangement … and as such are liable to prosecution," the Federal Circuit and Family Court judgement on January 28 said. It said the Brisbane-based husband and wife were to pay at least 84,000 euros — about $140,000 — to an overseas company under a commercial surrogacy agreement in 2023. But the court had no evidence before it of what payment or other benefits were made to the 37-year-old surrogate. Commercial surrogacy is illegal in Australia, with Queensland, NSW and the ACT also making it an offence for its residents to engage in it overseas. The couple, who had been trying for a baby for more than 15 years, had applied to the court for a parenting order of the child, who was born overseas last year. A birth certificate, issued by the country where the baby was born, named the man from the couple as the father, and the surrogate as the mother. The court said the surrogate mother deposed to having entered into a surrogacy and child-bearing agreement with the couple and the company, although a copy of that agreement was not before the court. In 2023, she was implanted with an embryo using a donor egg from another woman and the Brisbane man's sperm. She gave birth in 2024. "The surrogate eschews any intention of having any contact or relationship with the child," the judgement said. Justice Catherine Carew ordered documents from the case be referred to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions Queensland to consider whether the Brisbane couple should be prosecuted under section 56 of the Surrogacy Act 2010 (Qld). It is believed in cases such as this a complaint must be made within one year from the time when the matter arose. In late April, the QPS confirmed it was aware of the matter and "conducting inquiries". This week it told the ABC the case had been investigated by the Fortitude Valley Criminal Investigation Branch. "As a result, the investigation is finalised. No one has been charged," a spokesperson said. It is understood police liaised with lawyers and other agencies. Law experts have previously told the ABC they believed no-one in Australia had been successfully prosecuted for overseas commercial surrogacy Surrogacy Australia board member Sam Everingham hailed the decision as evidence Australia's surrogacy laws "aren't workable in the current form". "We don't have a good enough surrogacy system here in Australia," he said. "Penalising people for responding to that lack of appropriate surrogacy infrastructure in Australia is just crazy." The decision comes amid an Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) review into the country's surrogacy laws, with its final report due by July 29, 2026. Mr Everingham, who is also a director with Growing Families, an education and support organisation for Australians undertaking surrogacy internationally, said the Brisbane case reinforced the importance of the ALRC's review. He said he hoped the review would lead to Australians having better access to surrogacy locally by "having a compensated model here" and not making criminals of "people creating families". Accredited family law specialist and Surrogacy Australia president Sarah Bevan, whose practice represented the surrogate mother in the case, said the Queensland decision would come as a "significant relief" to all people who had become parents through international surrogacy. "It is far preferable for Australians not to have to resort to international surrogacy," she said.
