Shields and Anor and Summers

In the Family Court of Australia, Mr and Ms Shields sought orders concerning their child, B, born in 2001, whose father is Mr Summers. The applicants had made unsuccessful attempts to serve Mr Summers with the proceedings, leading to a public notice being placed in a newspaper. Despite this, Mr Summers did not participate in the proceedings. The court was therefore required to determine whether to proceed in his absence and make orders regarding parental responsibility, the child's residence, a change of surname, and leave to commence adoption proceedings.

The court was asked to consider the best interests of the child, B, in making its determination. This involved assessing the circumstances of the child's upbringing and the lack of involvement from the respondent father since the separation of the child's parents in 2003. The applicants, who had married in 2006 and had two other children, had been in a relationship with B since 2003 and B was integrated into their family.

Justice Cronin found that the applicants had fulfilled the requirements of sections 60CC and 60CA of the *Family Law Act 1975* (Cth) concerning the best interests of the child. The court was satisfied that it was in B's best interests to grant equal shared parental responsibility to Mr and Ms Shields, to order that B live with them, and to grant them leave to commence adoption proceedings. Furthermore, the court approved the change of B's surname from Summers to Shields, noting that this would alleviate embarrassment for the child and parents and align B's surname with that of the applicants and their other children. All other outstanding applications were dismissed.