[Israel] Gay adoption of child born through surrogacy possible without paternity test

In Australia, gay men (indeed all couples) who do surrogacy overseas and return back to Australia, return to find that they are NOT the legal parents of their child.  Australia does not recognize an overseas court order in this regard and as a consequence still makes the legal assumption that the surrogate and her partner are the "legal parents".  Currently, in Australia there is no mechanism to change this (with perhaps an exception in Western Australia).

Unfortunately, the upcoming Adoption Law reform in Victoria which was touted as being a great thing for gay dads who did surrogacy overseas - is actually not useful at all.  It simply doesn't cover them.  Gay Dads in Australia (who did overseas commercial /compensated surrogacy) will continue to not be recognized by the law as legal parents.

But in Israel....progress is being made:

Children born through surrogacy abroad can be adopted by homosexual couples without a paternity test, the Tel Aviv Family Court says in a ruling that jumped into a gap left by a 2014 decision by the High Court of Justice.

The decision, handed down on Sunday but announced by the court spokesperson only on Tuesday, potentially streamlines in a substantial way the legal process for homosexual adoption of children born through surrogacy abroad, an increasing trend for gay couples to avoid Israel’s more complex and drawn out process.

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