Gay man in Singapore blocked from adopting his child born through surrogacy

A man whose baby was born through surrogacy was denied official permission to adopt the child in his native Singapore.

The child who is now four years old was born after his father paid a woman US$200,000 to be the surrogate.

After returning to Singapore he and his partner of 13 years made enquiries about adopting their child.

The men approached Ministry of Social and Family Development to ask about adoption procedures according reports in The Straits Times.

The Ministry allegedly informed them it was unlikely to recommend a gay couple be allowed to adopt the child.

A District Court heard the man’s appeal to adopt his biological child because he wanted to ‘legitimise his relationship with the child’.

Under Singaporean law the man was allowed to travel back home with the child because he is its biological father.

Adoption denied

District Judge Shobha Nair turned down the man’s application.

Nair said because the man was a doctor he was ‘acutely aware that the medical procedures undertaken to have a child of his own would not have been possible in Singapore’.

‘He cannot then come to the courts of the very same jurisdiction to have the acts condoned,’ she said.

The man had also applied for adoption because he wanted it to have Singaporean citizenship.

‘This application is in reality an attempt to obtain a desired result – that is, formalising the parent-child relationship in order to obtain certain benefits such as citizenship rights, by walking through the back door of the system when the front door was firmly shut,’ Nair said in her ruling.

She said the Immigration Department would decide whether the child obtained citizenship in Singapore.

But Nair argued her ruling had nothing to do about passing judgement on same-sex parenting.

‘It does not further the interest of the four-year-old child. A four-year-old child will thrive anywhere in the hands of loving people,’ she said.

‘This court is obligated to interpret the law and not make it. The law mirrors the morality and wishes of the majority of Singaporeans… this case has very little to do with the propriety and/or effectiveness of same-gender parenting.

The applicant is the only parent he knows. The child will continue to be in his care.’

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