Child adoption by same-sex couples in Singapore

Adoption is an option for gay and lesbian couples who yearn for a child but do not want to go through the travails of pregnancy, failed medically assisted insemination or surrogacy.

=Local=

A member of a gay couple may adopt as a single parent as long as he/she fulfills the following criteria as stipulated by the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) (see main article: Child adoption in Singapore).

In summary:

Residency Status – the applicant must be a resident in Singapore to adopt, i.e. a Singapore Citizen or Permanent Resident, or a holder of an Employment Pass, Dependant's Pass or any other pass which the Family Court deems as qualifying the applicant as a resident in Singapore.

Age – the applicant must be at least 25 years old and at least 21 years older than the child to be adopted. The maximum age gap between the adopter and child must not be more than 50 years.

Marital status – if the applicant is a single male, he are not allowed to adopt a girl, unless there are special circumstances to justify the adoption.

Home Study Report – if the applicant wishes to adopt a foreign child or a local child via the MSF, he/she is required to apply for a Home Study Report.

Pre-adoption Briefing – applicants should attend a compulsory Pre-Adoption Briefing (PAB) before he/she applies for a Home Study Report or begins the legal proceedings for adoption.

The estimated cost of adoption is between S$8,000 to S$20,000 as at 2016.

Must be approved by MSF - must submit application to adopt. Part of process is that they will do a home study, can by done by a few different agencies, some more friendly than others. Recent developments are that some agencies will ask if you are gay. If you say yes, they may ask to interview your partner. One male gay couple after interviewing partner, got adoption rejected. Laws are not clear on this. Don't know what Ministry's stand is currently. They don't say clearly whether gay people can or cannot adopt. Some gay couples did manage to adopt but that was some time back, at least 3 to 4 years back. Policies may have changed. Be aware that when do home study or interview, you may not want to be 100% truthful about it. Men can only adopt boys Official age limit at 50 years older than child Soft limit around 40 - 45. They think you may not be suitable to adopt a child at this advanced age.

Gay male couple applied for adoption but rejected. During interview, asked if OK to declare if gay. Said there was no law but policy says gay people cannot adopt. During interview, said could consider but recently, changed policy.

=Overseas=

Policies differ from country to country Most will require home study approval by MSF - still will have to go through home study interviews. Only applicable to Singaporeans. If partner is foreigner, can get partner to get approval from his home country and you get approval for overseas adoption. If partner is PR, can opt to have home study done in his country.

Estimated cost: S$8,000 to 20,000

Once get approval from MSF, can approach any number of agencies to source child for you. Some agencies are better than others. Most adopted children in Singapore come from overseas. Not many Singaporean children are offered for adoption. Waiting list is quite long. Agencies will arrange for child from Malaysia, Indonesia or one of ASEAN countries. Some Singaporean couples are pick. They want a Chinese baby. Parents must be tall, educated. But if parents are tall, educated and privileged, won't want to offer child for adoption. Many children born to underprivileged parents in Malaysia who can't afford to bring them up. May be mixed babies in need of a home. So hope you will approach agencies sourcing from Malaysia or Indonesia.

Cost is S$15,000 for a Chinese baby, the cuter the more expensive. Like child trafficking system in Singapore and it is legal. Agency can show you all the pictures and the prices, eg. $20K or 30K. If you don't want, others want. Don't patronise agencies who are so mercenary.

Citizenship of child
When assets are overseas, overseas law will apply but kid is not overseas. US laws protect you better so may want to have child in US. Can get second parent adoption done there. Child will by UK or US citizens if born there. Both are legal parents to the child and they will have the adoption papers drawn up there. The laws in that country can apply. If have child and civil union of marriage in UK, you are both recognised as legal parents of the child. When you both come back to Singapore, only one of you will be recognised as the child's parent because Singapore does not recognise same-sex parents. In custody battle, it can be brought to courts of UK because legal papers drawn up there. Legal in UK and US but not in Australia. Cannot have both lesbian parents' names on child's birth cert even if born in US because both not residents of US. To get paperwork done, have to reside there for 6 months and do a home study to prepare for adoption. Well worth it if have time and money. Advantages of having both lesbian parents' names on birth certificate is that in custody fight, both parents have legal standing, not in Singapore but can bring up case in overseas court. Also both parents have equal right to child, even the one who did not give birth to it. Important to have equality in relationship and family.

A child of a Singaporean father only gains citizenship if he is legally married to the mother. A child born to a Singaporean mother is automatically a Singaporean.

=Surrogacy=

Surrogacy is the agreement of a woman to carry a pregnancy for the intended parents.

Not possible/legal in Singapore. Cannot do even if straight couple. Not discriminating against gay couples.

Only available via IVF.

There are two main types of surrogacy, gestational surrogacy and traditional surrogacy.

Gestational surrogacy
In gestational surrogacy, the pregnancy results from the transfer of an embryo created by IVF, in a manner so the resulting child is genetically unrelated to the surrogate. This type of surrogacy requires an egg donor.

Traditional surrogacy
In traditional surrogacy, the surrogate is impregnated naturally or artificially, but the resulting child is genetically related to the surrogate. In this case, the surrogate is the egg donor.

Legal status
Surrogacy is not legal in Singapore but can be done in other countries including Thailand and the United States.

Thailand
Until 2015, Thailand was Asia’s surrogate country of choice after India closed its doors to gay couples in January 2013. She boasted a lucrative, yet largely unregulated, international surrogacy trade which was particularly popular among gay couples.

But in February 2015, legislation was passed banning foreigners from using Thai surrogate mothers after a series of high-profile scandals.

The move was spurred by an Australian couple who were accused last spring of abandoning a baby with Down's syndrome carried by a Thai surrogate while taking his healthy twin sister.

A second high profile surrogacy controversy erupted when nine babies fathered by a Japanese man using Thai surrogate mothers were discovered in a Bangkok apartment.

Bangkok had a booming surrogacy industry with 35% of intending parents being gay men. However, there were some important laws that need to be noted. The most important law was that the surrogate mother must have her name on the child’s birth certificate. She was also the legal guardian, as a child born out of wedlock is deemed to be the legitimate child of the mother. The father had no parental rights, even if he was listed on the birth certificate. Therefore it was important to ensure the surrogate mother agreed to relinquish all rights to the child after birth.

The average cost of surrogacy in Bangkok was US$40,000, cheaper by half from United States and the proximity to Singapore made it a more attractive choice for Singaporeans.

Note:


 * One had to make sure that the surrogate entered into a contract outlining her intent to allow the child to be adopted by the biological sperm donor – the father listed on the birth certificate.
 * One had to be prepared to be in Thailand for around 3 to 4 weeks after the birth of the child as that was how long it took for the child to get a birth certificate and a passport.

USA
The United States’ lenient laws towards surrogacy have made the country an ideal place for gay couples to find a woman to carry their child.

Across the U.S. laws vary by state, with six states criminalising paid surrogacy, including New York, Michigan, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Washington. The surrogacy-friendly states are California, Illinois, Arkansas and Massachusetts. These states allow for paid surrogacies and some have agencies that specialise in locating surrogate mothers for gay couples. These agencies will also assist in preparing paperwork so that both fathers can have their names on the birth cert and the surrogate mother’s rights are correctly terminated.

The costs of surrogacy in United States starts from US$100,000. Taking into consideration airfare, accommodation and other miscellaneous expenses, couples must be prepared to spend between US$100,000 to US$200,000.

Note:


 * Be sure to use a reputable agency, preferably one recommended by someone who has used their services before. This will help in preventing unnecessary complications and headaches.

Adoption of surrogate child in Singapore

 * Main article: High Court allows gay father to adopt surrogate son, December 2017

In a landmark move on Monday, 17 December 2018, the High Court approved on appeal a gay Singaporean's bid to adopt his biological son, whom he fathered in the United States through a surrogate mother for US$200,000 (S$275,000).

The 46-year-old pathologist father had brought the Pennsylvania-born boy, now five, to Singapore, but his bid to adopt him was rejected by a district judge in 2017.

In the judgment grounds released, the three-judge appeal court made clear that its move to reverse the decision was based “on the particular facts of the case and should not be taken as an endorsement of what the appellant and his partner set out to do”.

“Our decision was reached through an application of the law as we understood it to be, and not on the basis of our sympathies for the position of either party,” wrote Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon on behalf of the court, which also included Judge of Appeal Judith Prakash and Justice Debbie Ong.

The court said it reached its decision “with not insignificant difficulty”.

“On balance, it seems appropriate that we attribute significant weight to the concern not to violate public policy against the formation of same-sex family units on account of its rational connection to the present dispute and the degree to which this policy would be violated should an adoption order be made.”

But the court found that, based on all the case’s circumstances, neither of these reasons is “sufficiently powerful to enable us to ignore the statutory imperative to promote the welfare of the child, and, indeed, to regard his welfare as first and paramount”.

The biological father and his partner, both Singaporeans aged 46, had cohabited for 13 years. They first approached the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) to inquire about adopting a child, but were told it was unlikely to recommend adoption by a homosexual couple.

The man then travelled to the US where his sperm was used to impregnate the egg of an anonymous donor, using in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) procedures. The embryo was transplanted into the womb of a woman who carried it to term for US$200,000.

As the biological father, the Singaporean was allowed to bring the child back here to live with him. He started adoption proceedings to legitimise his relationship with the child but his application was turned down by a district judge last year.

This led to the appeal in the High Court (Family Division) where Senior Counsel Harpreet Singh Nehal and lawyer Jordan Tan, as briefed by lawyers Koh Tien Hua, Ivan Cheong and Shaun Ho from Eversheds Harry Elias, argued his appeal in July and the judgment was reserved.

Kristy Tan, Germaine Boey and Uni Khng from the Attorney-General’s Chambers, in representing the Guardian-in-Adoption appointed by the MSF, argued that the concern to promote the child’s welfare may be outweighed by other considerations, and objected that the adoption would advance the child’s welfare.

Adding that public policy is a relevant concern in adoption applications, they said the application should be dismissed, pointing out the present situation is entirely of the couple’s own making “because they went to great lengths to circumvent the laws of Singapore to start a family unit”.

However, the Court found that while there is a public policy in favour of parenthood within the marriage and a policy against the formation of same-sex units, the welfare of the child would be significantly improved if an adoption order was made.

The Court accepted that an adoption order would enhance the child’s prospect of remaining in Singapore, as he would be able to apply for Singapore citizenship. If successful, this would stabilise the child’s care arrangements and give him a sense of security.

It reiterated the importance of the term “first and paramount” when considering the child’s welfare.

The court added that the MSF Guardian-in-Adoption who assessed the case “did not rely on any public policy against surrogacy, nor did she consider herself able to state clearly what the Government’s position on that issue is”.

Chief Justice Sundaresh wrote, “In the circumstances, given the still evolving nature of the Government’s position in the light of the complexities of the substantive issue, we find that the court certainly should not articulate a public policy against surrogacy and give it weight in the present case.

“To do so would be to fill a space in deliberative social policymaking that the other branches of government, in which the legislative imprimatur lies, have not stepped into or not yet prepared to step into.”

The Court has no doubt that the Government is “studying the position carefully and will in time determine its policy stance and take the appropriate legislative and enforcement action”, he added.

Reacting to the judgment, lawyer Koh Tien Hua, who acted in the case, said this is the first time surrogacy and gay adoption had been canvassed in court.

“This is important because family is important no matter the orientation of the parent, and family is the cradle of society,” he said. “This judgment recognises the important role of the family in the child’s life and found that an adoption order would be for the child’s welfare.”

=See also=
 * Child adoption in Singapore
 * High Court allows gay father to adopt surrogate son, December 2018
 * Same-sex parenting in Singapore

=References=

=Acknowledgements=

This article was written by Roy Tan.