Our Submission On The Overseas Adoptions Legislation Bill

The Women’s Rights Party was formed in 2023 as a voice for women whose interests were being ignored by most sectors of society in the name of ‘inclusivity’. As a registered democratic political party that is advocating strongly for the interests of women and children, we are an organised force for change. The Women’s Rights Party is about protecting the rights of women and children. We advocate for women’s sex-based rights, so that these rights are respected and extended, and not eroded.

We are campaigning to protect the rights of women and children and aim to bring greater public awareness to threats that include lifelong harm to children. We focus on issues that directly impact on women and girls and recognise that such interests are wide ranging, including women’s sex-based rights, women’s healthcare, our children’s education, and recognition of women’s contributions to society.

The Party is committed to ensuring New Zealand legislation reflects the commitment of our Government to the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)¹ and to the Convention on the Rights of the Child.²

While the primary focus of the Women’s Rights Party is protecting the rights of women and children and advocating for sex-based rights, we are concerned with issues that affect all New Zealanders and our future generations.

Thus the Women’s Rights Party NZ welcomes the opportunity to make a submission on the Overseas Adoptions Legislation Bill. We fully support changes that strengthen New Zealand law and aim to protect adopted infants, children and young people from potential harm.

The Women’s Rights Party is committed to infant and child safeguarding, and we agree that infant and child safety comes first across all measures. Proposals to close loopholes that result in children being adopted into unsafe environments are both urgent and necessary as we saw in the high-profile case of abuse of children adopted from Samoa underscored the need for immediate legislative action.

We would like it to be noted that there are potentially serious safeguarding issues associated with surrogacy arrangements and addressing this issue effectively is well overdue. We have previously submitted on the Improving Arrangements for Surrogacy Bill (in September 2024). We said at the time that we are unequivocally opposed to international surrogacy:

In this regard, we note the intention of the Bill is to provide exemptions for countries with adequate safeguards. We would urge that assessment of such safeguards in the case of surrogacy includes the safety of the birth mothers and their infants.

Further, we note that it is not only people with criminal or known care and protection issues who are unsuitable either to adopt an infant or child, or who obtain an infant via surrogacy. The UK case of 13-month-old Preston Davey, who died at the hands of Jamie Varley, his adoptive father, after months of sexual abuse, physical assault and psychological torment highlights the very real potential for exploitation of an infant. Varley was a secondary school teacher. His partner was also implicated in the abuse.⁴

We cannot stress enough that the welfare and best interests of the child are the primary concern across all adoption and surrogacy pathways. The Women’s Rights Party NZ strongly supports a robust child-centred system and all measures to prevent harm and exploitation. However, we remain concerned there may still be unintended unmitigated risks for infants and children.

The Bill needs to protect the safety, wellbeing, and rights of babies and young children, particularly in complex cross-border contexts, including where adoption is used to formalise international surrogacy arrangements.

1. The Women’s Rights Party strongly support the objective of this bill to prevent harm and exploitation.
2. The Bill uses the term “exceptional circumstances” without being clear about what these circumstances might be. Clarity about the meaning in the context of the Bill is necessary.
3. We are concerned that an appropriate protection response will only be activated when risk materialises, rather than before harm occurs.
4. The Women’s Rights Party continues to support stronger domestic safeguards, and we are concerned that ‘intending parents’ may engage in overseas surrogacy arrangements without appropriate safeguards.
5. We support the adoption of a precautionary, child-first approach and remain opposed to the commodification of infants via surrogacy.
6. We consider that the model of surrogacy proposed accepts international surrogacy without sufficiently interrogating the best interests of the infant and this is one of the reasons we oppose international surrogacy.
7. The Women’s Rights Party remains concerned about the exploitation of surrogate mothers, particularly in countries with limited or no protections. It is our view that surrogacy arrangements, whether commercial or altruistic, can never be free of exploitation of women\’s reproductive capacities. Nor can we eliminate the coercive element inherent in the practice of surrogacy.
8. The deliberate creation of arrangements involving planned separation of an infant from its mother and the presence of legal uncertainties do not align with the best interests of the child.
9. The Bill does not appear to adequately address failed surrogacy arrangements or children caught up in cross-country disputes.

The Bill takes important steps to address historical harms in overseas adoption, but by supporting surrogacy arrangements it risks embedding a framework that continues to accept what we consider are avoidable risks to infants and children.

A genuine child-centred approach not only recognises the fundamental importance of a person’s access to information about their origins and whakapapa; it should also prioritise the prevention of harm. Decisions should be driven by consistent child protection thresholds rather than adult desires and circumstances.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide feedback.