A Channel Seven news presenter has made a moving plea for a change to citizenship laws to allow his adopted son to finally remain in Australia – instead of staying stuck in limbo between the US and his father’s home.
Mike Amor, who presents the network’s weekend news program, adopted Addison, now 11 years old, in the US in 2007 with his wife Tracy while he was working there as Seven’s US correspondent.
Now, speaking in an exclusive chat with the Herald Sun, he has revealed Addison can only come to Australia on a bridging visa.
Amor told the news outlet he and his wife tried for years to conceive naturally, before turning to adoption in Australia. However, they were initially turned away as Tracy had cancer at the time. Fortunately, she has since beaten the disease.
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From there the couple reportedly had issues with international adoption law changes, and eventually chose to pursue their dream of starting a family in the US. He’s now described the ordeal as “infuriating” and claimed Addison is only being treated differently because he’s adopted.
“Addison just wants to be an Aussie, and to make him an Aussie is all I have ever hoped for,” he told the news outlet. “We wanted a happy and simple life for him, but as it turns out it’s not that simple.”
Addison could now be facing years of waiting as the family will have to apply for residency before pursuing a possible citizenship for him. Essentially, Amor wants the laws to be made simpler for families like his with adopted children.
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“We have been through enough struggles to start a family and continue to struggle. As a final insult, they classify my son as an international student,” he said.
According to the Attorney-General’s Department, the process that occurs when an Aussie adopts a child from another country is called Intercountry Adoption.
These are all governed by the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Cooperation, which places obligations on the child’s country of origin and the new country they’re moving to.
He’s not the first high profile Australian to go through an issue like this, and actor Hugh Jackman previously described his own adoption journey in the country as “painful”.
The star has two adopted children with wife Deborra-Lee Furness and previously told The Guardian: “The first thing to come out of someone’s mouth was ‘Don’t expect to get any special treatment because you’re famous.’ There was no ‘welcome’ – that was it.”
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