Questions on right to identity - Children’s Convention from the United Nations
Question 13
Please inform the Committee about the measures taken to ensure that all information about a child’s biological parents is registered and filed and that children born through assisted reproductive technologies have access to information about their origins.
Reply to 13
Domestic surrogacy arrangements in New Zealand require an adoption to legalise the relationship between the commissioning parents and the child. This involves a social work assessment and report with details about the biological parents of the child, details about the surrogate and an assessment of the suitability of the adoptive applicants (commissioning parents) to adopt the child.
New Zealand has also established a set of guidelines to inform decisions and the approach taken to cases of international surrogacy. Requirements of the guidelines include as much information as possible about the specific circumstances of the arrangement to be made available. In the event the commissioning parents wish to permanently reside in New Zealand with the child, the parental relationships between the child and their commissioning parents must be made legal by way of an Adoption Order. An assessment of suitability and full information about the circumstances of the child’s creation is provided to the Family Court in the form of a report by a social worker. This information is secured on the Court file and thus available to the child in the future. In all adoption practice, openness is promoted and supported.
