Dane & Anor & Alger

The applicants, seeking leave to obtain interim orders concerning parental responsibility for a child, brought their application before Tree J of the Family Court of Australia. The dispute arose from the child's placement in the applicants' care under a cultural adoption, with the family invited to represent their culture at a festival. Difficulties in obtaining a passport for the child, coupled with the child's unawareness of the adoption and the applicants' inability to contact the biological mother due to practical and cultural reasons, created a situation of urgency. Consequently, the applicants sought an order dispensing with service of the application for interim relief.

The central legal issues before the Court were whether to grant leave for interim orders regarding parental responsibility and whether to dispense with service of the application. The Court was required to consider the unique circumstances of the case, including the cultural context of a Torres Strait Islander child, the significance of dancing within that culture, and the nature of traditional adoptions where biological parents relinquish parental responsibility upon transfer of the child. The Court also had to determine if it was in the child's best interests to vest interim specific parental responsibility (ESPR) in the applicants.

Tree J reasoned that the unique circumstances strongly favoured dispensing with service, finding no requirement for it for present purposes. The Court was satisfied that dancing was an important cultural practice and that it was in the child's best interests for ESPR to vest in the applicants on an interim basis. This decision was informed by the evidence of traditional adoptions within the child's culture, where biological parents typically cease involvement and relinquish parental responsibility upon such a transfer. The Court ultimately ordered that service be dispensed with and that ESPR vest in the applicants on an interim basis.