Bilsland Family

Hi There

Me and my family are living in Tannum Sands and working in Gladstone and would certainly be interested in meeting up at some point. We are from Scotland and similar to yourselves only being here for 7 weeks now. We are a relatively young family although have a few gray hairs creeping in. Our children are William 9 yrs old and Jodie 4 yrs old.

Look forward to hearing back from you.

The Bilsland Family

Hi all

My wife 29 yrs old and I 31yrs old will be moving over to Hopefully Tannum and after an induction period at head office expect to be there 3rd week in Sept. I have absorbed the schooling details and wonder if anyone has managed to secure a childcare place? as we have a 9 yr old boy and a 3yr old girl who wont stop talking about her new nursery in Tannum. I believe places are hard to come by.

Further to the education issue me and my wife would like for the opportunity of socializing with families similar to that of ours.

Regards

The Bilsland Family

Many Thanks everyone for your feedback.

I have now contacted the Registry for Scotland and they are carrying out a marriage search on my wife from her 16th birthday till the date we married and will issue a To Whom it May Concern letter stating no marriage prior to ours which eliminates one way that the biological father could have obtained parental rights.

I am also currently in the process of arranging a sworn affidavit through a solicitor for my wife to state that she has never been married, has sole parental rights, that there has never been a court order applied for nor granted and also that there would be no legal restriction from her taking our boy out of the country.

We can also change our boys name on his birth certificate which we would like to do anyway so as he shares the same name as the rest of the family and we can only do this without the biological fathers signature if my wife has sole parental rights, so I believe that this may also satisfy.

The only other thing which I would like to do is to obtain confirmation that a court order has never been applied for and to be honest I am not sure how to go about obtaining such confirmation.

It seems like such a minefield and is very draining to say the least.

Thanks again

The Bilsland Family

Hi There

I am looking for some advice, guidance or experiences from people who are or were in a similar position.

My wife has a son from her past relationship and our boys biological father has not seen his son in over six years, his choice! The child was born before December 2003 and although the fathers name is on the birth certificate Scottish Law states that he has no parental rights.

The childs biological father has never provided financial support through CSA or other means and has never attempted to maintain contact or lodge a court order for rights. We do not know the biological fathers whereabouts and to be honest wish not to contact him as he was violent to my wife, is an unsavoury character and for the risk of him attempting to be difficult. We would be confident that the court would see in our favour as we have a daughter together also and we are very much a family unit where I have dedicated my time to our boy through teaching him to ski, coaching his football team and general dad duties however we would like to advoid courts altogether due to cost and time.

I have been offered a job where I would be travelling out on a 457 Visa and very much under way with regards to the Visa process with the emigration agent advising my potential employer of an expected date of first week in July for approval. However only today recieved an e-mail requesting copies of the childrens birth certificates and also if the children are from previous relationships then either a death certificate, court order or parental permission. My frustration is that at the beggining of the process i highlighted this situation upon submission of Client Questionnaire so why in the eleventh hour do they raise the issue when I could have been notified from day one and had time to organise said requirements.

I would appreciate some advice on the fastest and least costly method of satisfying the requests i.e Is there a way that I could prove that he has never applied for parental rights? Is there some form of statement we could make with a solicitor?

I had spoken with a solicitor in the Child Law Centre and she stated that this would not restrict us from taking the child out of the country however I am fully aware that it is Australian Law that we have to satisy and not UK Law.

Many thanks in advance.

The Bilsland Family