Parliament seen from the Court of Appeal, which has urged the Government to examine the plight of a 20-year-old about to be split from her siblings. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Parliament seen from the Court of Appeal, which has urged the Government to examine the plight of a 20-year-old about to be split from her siblings. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Three teenagers facing extreme hardship since their parents vanished overseas will have a chance at a new life after their New Zealand aunt adopted them.
But after years of court battles, their eldest sister is now 20 and will be separated from her siblings in Ethiopia unless the Government intervenes.
The aunt took her fight for guardianship to the Court of Appeal in what her lawyer today said was a ground-breaking case.
The aunt has three nieces and one nephew in Ethiopia, aged 15 to 20.
In a new Court of Appeal judgment, Justice David Goddard said the children's parents went to Eritrea almost a decade ago, and were presumed dead.
"Ethiopia is a fragile state. There is significant civil unrest and fighting in the region in which the children live."
The court was told the nephew, now 17, was kidnapped last year and only returned a few days later after a ransom was paid.
An earlier Family Court adoption bid was unsuccessful. Norman then appealed to the High Court, and gave DNA evidence confirming she was related to the children.
But the High Court appeal failed too.
Three years passed since the adoption bid started. The eldest niecem known as Wendy, was now 20.
"We consider that it is no longer possible for an adoption order to be made in respect of Wendy," Justice Goddard said.
"Were it not for her age, we would have been prepared to make such an order."
Justice Goddard said in the circumstances, Attorney-General David Parker could invite Minister of Immigration Kris Faafoi to consider granting the 20-year-old a visa.
"Crown Law is considering the court's decision and preparing advice for the Attorney-General," a spokesman for Parker told the Herald today.
Barrister Ben Keith, who argued the aunt's case at the Court of Appeal, said his client was a capable woman working hard for her family in tough conditions.
"It's the first time the Court of Appeal has considered inter-country adoption," Keith told the Herald.
"What they've done is to really push out of the way some complications that the Family and High Courts had introduced into these cases."
He said the Court of Appeal had focused on a key issue: "Once children aren't being cared for by their parents, is being adopted in their best interests?
"What it does is get them out of very difficult circumstances into a safe place, into a family member's care. And that's got to be a good result."
He said it was noteworthy the Appeal Court judges suggested the Attorney-General consider talking to Faafoi.
"The Court of Appeal has made a real effort to find a pragmatic way or good way through and I'd hope we can use that."
Norman was originally from Ethiopia and her parents died in Sudan in the 1990s.
Her former husband arrived in New Zealand as a refugee in 2000, when Norman lived in Khartoum, Sudan.
She was later granted a New Zealand visa and arrived in 2009. The couple then adopted five of the husband's relatives and Norman became a citizen in 2015.
Norman met her current husband that year on a trip to Ethiopia.
The appeal court said Norman and her current husband, both working as cleaners, were fit and proper people to adopt children.
Norman's family lived in a two-bedroom Wellington property rented from Kāinga Ora.
Norman accepted a larger home was needed if the nieces and nephew arrived in New Zealand.
The children Norman wanted to adopt were born in Sudan while their parents were living there.
Justice Goddard said Oranga Tamariki (OT) sent a lawyer in 2018 to the Ethiopian town where the children lived.
Justice Goddard said frequent moving, economic challenges, and the absence of any parents or legal guardian had limited the children's schooling opportunities.
The Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated challenges, the Court of Appeal said.
The Ethiopian family's diet was mostly "shoro", a soup made from chickpea flour, and the family communicated with Norman through bi-weekly WhatsApp calls.
Justice Goddard said the teenagers spoke of being able to give Norman a better life by reducing her burdens and supporting her.
One hoped to become a social worker, another a children's rights advocate, the third niece wanted to be a doctor and the nephew wanted to pursue art and design.
An OT social worker voiced concern about how the children would adapt to New Zealand's education system given their ages, and inability to read, write or speak English.
Justice Goddard said Norman had a good record of caring for teenagers adopted into New Zealand.
An adoption order can only be made in respect of a "child". Under the 1955 Adoption Act, a child was defined as a person who is under the age of 20 years.
