A LESBIAN mother has been stopped from moving from Queensland to NSW after a court ruled her daughter's relationship with her ex-partner had to be protected.
The 41-year-old woman had asked the Family Court to grant her sole parental responsibility for the four-year-old girl, conceived via an anonymous sperm donor, noting that her ex-partner was not listed as a parent on the child's birth certificate.
But Family Court Justice Paul Cronin disagreed, ruling the women "had equal shared responsibility" for the child despite there being no biological relationship between the pair.
Justice Cronin took into account the girl's relationship as a sister to the second woman's eight-year-old daughter.
It was decided the move would not be in the girl's best interests until she was old enough to understand and maintain a long-distance relationship with her non-biological mother and sister.
The complex case highlighted the difficulties in dealing with separation of homosexual couples who have children with differing biological relationships.
"Much of the judicial history about 'relocation' cases has focused on heterosexual parents where biological connection was clear," Justice Cronin said in his judgment.
"This case highlights the reality rather than the abstract of a breakdown of a same-sex relationship into which had been born children by artificial conception procedures to two different mothers."
While they lived together as a family, the lesbian couple both acted as parents to the girls with the children calling one woman mummy and the other mumma, the court heard.
"There is no doubt that to the extent that they can understand the concept, the children not only love each other but also consider themselves to be sisters," Justice Cronin said.
"Each child shows love and affection towards their non-biological mother."
University of Sydney Law Professor Patrick Parkinson said the case was an example of "biology being irrelevant" when it comes to Family Law.
"Emotional reality is very different to the legal situation," he said. "Where there isn't a biological connection it's very easy to say this is my child, not ours. There are no easy answers to these issues."
Strange case...........has to stay in Qld no NSW .........for easy acess for the ex lesbian partner.
