If you are looking at this section, there is a reasonable prospect that you are already involved in the adoption or surrogacy process – you may already have an arrangement in place – if so, congratulations!
It is important that any application made to the County Court of Victoria is done so carefully to avoid delays and to make the process as smooth and as stress free as is possible. We have extensive experience with surrogacy and a variety of different types of adoption applications.
The legal aspect of a surrogacy is twofold. Firstly we can give the advice required in order to satisfy the Patient Review Panel to approve of the surrogacy arrangement, and then after the anticipated birth we can prepare the application for Substitute Parentage Orders.
With respect of the adoption process, for the adoption of a child we initially work with the adopting agencies in order to collect the reports and consents, before drafting the relevant material for the application itself. With an adult adoption there is typically no involvement with an agency and an application can be made in circumstances where the adopting parents have brought up, maintained and educated the person whom they seek to adopt.
Both adoption and surrogacy are such wonderful things – our Jim Beckett enjoys the work and would welcome the privilege of assisting further couples.