In a landmark move by Singapore’s High Court, a gay Singaporean dad will be allowed to adopt his five-year-old biological son, who was born in the United States via a surrogate mother. The adoption bid, which was initially rejected by a district judge last year, was approved today.
The 46-year-old doctor, who has been in a relationship with his long-term partner for 13 years, brought the child back to Singapore with him and began adoption proceedings in December 2014, according to South China Morning Post. Since same-sex marriages are not recognized in Singapore, and the man was not married to the surrogate mother, the child was seen as legally illegitimate.
In rejecting the man’s application last year, the lower court claimed that he was aware the medical procedures he underwent to conceive this child were not possible in Singapore, where assisted reproduction is only offered to a married woman with her spouse’s content. The in-vitro fertilization and surrogacy process that took place in the United States cost US$200,000 (S$275,000), The Straits Times said.
The three-judge appeal court explained that the overturned decision was based “on the particular facts of the case and should not be taken as an endorsement of what the appellant and his partner set out to do”, TODAY reported.
“Our decision was reached through an application of the law as we understood it to be, and not on the basis of our sympathies for the position of either party,” the chief justice wrote.
The concern “not to violate public policy against the formation of same-sex family units” was, in the end, insufficient for the court to “ignore the statutory imperative to promote the welfare of the child”.
This ruling means the case is the first to acknowledge same sex families in Singapore law. The adopted child, currently an American citizen, would then have a better shot at getting Singapore citizenship and long-term residence here, where his family is.
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