Farnells have no claim on Gammy

DAVID and Wendy Farnell have no legal claim on baby Gammy and no chance of realising their alleged hope “to get our son back”.

DAVID and Wendy Farnell have no legal claim on baby Gammy and, as long as his Thai birth mother refuses to give him up, no chance of realising their alleged hope “to get our son back”.

While recent and pending Australian surrogate parents face an excruciating wait for clarification of their position under Thailand’s new anti-commercial surrogacy law, the Thai Civil Code is clear: unless birth mother Pattaramon Janbua gives the child up for adoption — she is adamant she will not — she is his legal mother, they are both Thai citizens and the Farnells have no basis to claim parentage.

The West Australian couple’s claimed ­desire in their 60 Minutes interview to want to raise the now seven-month-old Down syndrome boy they left behind won support yesterday from Health Minister Kim Hames.

“I don’t have a concern with the family having baby Gammy,” Dr Hames said. “I know what (David Farnell) was convicted of in the past (child sexual abuses) but ... I was convinced with his remorse over those issues.”

However, Dr Hames retracted the comments and apologised last night on talkback radio after his remarks caused friction with his cabinet colleagues. The comments were interpreted as a sign of government support for the Farnells before the conclusion of a child-protection investigation into their fitness to parent.

On Sunday Ms Farnell told 60 Minutes: “We always want our son. We come back to Australia, we miss him every day.”

Thai legal experts and social welfare officials responded with scorn yesterday to the couple’s ­appeal, one describing it as “an open-and-shut case in the (birth) mother’s favour”.

The Farnells also are unlikely to attract support from Australian diplomats, who are focusing on persuading Thai authorities to take “transitional measures” before the new laws are in place, so surrogacy parents with newborns or births pending can bring the ­babies home.

It is understood Bangkok ­embassy officials will meet Thai government agencies this week, seeking to clear the way for Australians stranded by last week’s announcement outlawing commercial surrogacy in Thailand.

Between 100 and 200 Aus­tralian couples are estimated to be either in Bangkok with new infants or waiting at home for Thai surrogate mothers to give birth.

Thai Immigration officials yesterday confirmed rigorous checks applying at international airports when foreigners try to take infants out. They include checks that birth mothers personally affirm to officers they have given the children up for adoption and consent
to their leaving the country. There was no confirm­ation yesterday of a Fairfax Media story that an Australian couple with an infant were obliged to remain in Bangkok when they refused to say they had not paid a surrogate mother or egg donor.

Immigration officers at Suvar­nabhumi and Don Muang airports yesterday denied knowledge of the case and The Australian understands the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade had received no information by yesterday evening. DFAT made no comment about the alleged case or the number of Australians stranded by uncertainty over how biological parents and pending surrogate births would be treated ahead of the new law coming into force.

However, a DFAT spokesman said: “The Australian government is encouraging Thai authorities to adopt appropriate transitional ­arrangements for any new measures on commercial surrogacy ...”

He repeated the government’s advice to anyone intending to pursue surrogacy arrangements in Thailand to get legal advice in both countries and to consult the department’s website advice.