Steele & Thurman
[2024] FedCFamC1F 661
•16 September 2024
FEDERAL CIRCUIT AND FAMILY COURT OF AUSTRALIA
(DIVISION 1)
Steele & Thurman [2024] FedCFamC1F 661
File number(s): BRC 5215 of 2024 Judgment of: BAUMANN J Date of judgment: 16 September 2024 Catchwords: FAMILY LAW - ADOPTION – Leave to make an application pursuant to the Adoption Act 2009 (Qld) Legislation: Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) s 60G Division: Division 1 First Instance Number of paragraphs: 5 Date of hearing: 16 September 2024 Place: Brisbane Solicitor for the Applicants: Litigants in person Solicitor for the Respondent: Did not participate (deceased) ORDERS
BRC 5215 of 2024 FEDERAL CIRCUIT AND FAMILY COURT OF AUSTRALIA (DIVISION 1)
BETWEEN: MR STEELE
First Applicant
MS THURMAN
Second Applicant
AND: MR THURMAN
Respondent
ORDER MADE BY:
BAUMANN J
DATE OF ORDER:
16 SEPTEMBER 2024
THE COURT ORDERS ON A FINAL BASIS:
1.That pursuant to s 60G of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) the First Applicant, Mr Steele be granted leave to make an application pursuant to the Adoption Act 2009 (Qld) for the adoption of the children, X born 2008 and Y born 2012.
Note: The form of the order is subject to the entry in the Court’s records.
Note: This copy of the Court’s Reasons for judgment may be subject to review to remedy minor typographical or grammatical errors (r 10.14(b) Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021 (Cth)), or to record a variation to the order pursuant to r 10.13 Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (Family Law) Rules 2021 (Cth).
Part XIVB of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth) makes it an offence, except in very limited circumstances, to publish an account of proceedings that identify persons, associated persons, or witnesses involved in family law proceedings.
IT IS NOTED that publication of this judgment by this Court under the pseudonym Steele & Thurman has been approved pursuant to subsection 114Q(2) of the Family Law Act 1975 (Cth).
REASONS FOR JUDGMENT
(settled from the oral reasons delivered)BAUMANN J:
Two children, X, who was born 2008 and is now 16, and Y, born 2012 and is therefore 12, were the product of a relationship between the mother Ms Thurman and a Mr Thurman. Sadly Mr Thurman passed away in 2018.
Shortly thereafter, the First Applicant, Mr Steele and the mother met; they commenced cohabitation in 2020 and married in 2022. It is clear from the well-prepared documentation I have before me that Mr Steele has, in every way, taken up the role as a father figure and father to the boys, X and Y. It is, it seems, the wish of X and Y, and certainly of the mother and her husband, that they now undertake a process through the State system of seeking to have the two children legally adopted.
Of course, adoption, once it happens, is a change of status for these children, and they then become children of Mr Steele in the same way as if he had been their biological father. That includes all rights they may have as against him, including upon his death. So, it is a major application. The quirk of the law in Queensland is that before parties can invoke the State system, which is more administrative for adoption, they must be granted leave of what was the Family Court of Australia, which is now the Federal Circuit and Family Court Division 1.
I am absolutely satisfied that it is in the best interests of X and Y from affidavits that I have read and the way in which Mr Steele has, with the support of his wife, taken on the responsibilities both financial and emotional, for these boys, that is in their best interests that the application for adoption be pursued and to enable that process to begin, I am required to give leave, which I do.
I make orders in terms of the Initiating Application.
I certify that the preceding five (5) numbered paragraphs are a true copy of the ex tempore Reasons for Judgment of the Honourable Justice Baumann. Associate:
Dated: 12 February 2025
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