Page 2004 - Week 07 - Thursday, 13 August 2020
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certifying that they have received appropriate clinical treatment for gender affirmation. This is true of any person wishing to change their registered sex.
With the new and existing safeguards in place, the additional pathways represent a considered approach to improve the wellbeing of transgender, intersex or gender diverse young people. We do not expect that this reform will affect many young people. However, we know that for a small number of young people it will be life changing and for others it will be an important step in demonstrating our support for them and for inclusion and equality in the ACT.
The bill also contains amendments that enable the issue of integrated birth certificates, on request, to people who have been adopted. This will apply to people born in the ACT or, in certain situations, people born overseas but adopted in the ACT. Currently the birth certificate issued on adoption removes all evidence of the birth parents and replaces them with the names of adoptive parents.
As Minister Stephen-Smith mentioned, a tireless advocate for this reform, adoptive mother Bernadette Blenkiron has spoken about her feelings on receiving birth certificates for her two adopted children. The certificate stated that she gave birth to her adopted children in hospital on their birth dates, which is clearly untrue.
She said she had been warned but it was confronting for her to see it presented in this way. Wiping out reference to their biological parents felt completely inappropriate to her and factually incorrect. No-one was pretending she had given birth to these kids. She said that this is not the 1950s, with the stigma and shame of hidden adoption. This bill changes that situation, allowing both sets of parents to be recognised within the one document. For many adopted families and people this ability to have their full history acknowledged will be of great importance.
We also understand that there are adopted individuals who, for various reasons, would prefer not to have their birth parents’ names recorded. That is why the bill provides integrated birth certificates on request instead of issuing them as a matter of course.
During the next 12 months my directorate will work closely with Access Canberra and community organisations that we have consulted to develop a user-friendly application process. They will also design a certificate that is both sensitive to its holders and accessible for organisations that use it as proof of identification.
I take this opportunity to welcome the changes New South Wales is making in this space. New South Wales has recently followed suit by introducing legislative amendments to issue true integrated birth certificates. If the amendments are passed it will mean that a person who is born in New South Wales but adopted in the ACT may also obtain an integrated birth certificate. As is the case in the ACT and South Australia, I understand that the future New South Wales integrated birth certificate will also be recognised as a valid proof of identification. This is certainly great news for the adoption community.
I thank Minister Stephen-Smith and her directorate for the assistance my directorate has received in producing this bill. I also thank A Gender Agenda, Barnardos
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