Births, Deaths & Marriages Bill would hamper humanitarian efforts to reunite families

Wellington, 25 July 2007 – The Births, Deaths and Marriages Bill would seriously hamper The Salvation Army’s work in reuniting long-lost families if passed in its current form.

Salvation Army Family Tracing Service Director Major Bronwyn McFarlane appeared today before the Government Administration Select Committee which is considering the Births, Deaths, Marriages, and Relationships Registration Amendment Bill.

Major McFarlane says that as the Bill currently stands, humanitarian agencies like The Salvation Army would be denied access to identity documents such as birth and marriage certificates.

‘The Bill effectively places a roadblock in our attempts to reunite families who have been out of touch for whatever reason but who now want to get back together.

‘Because of the limitations in the Bill, we would find it very difficult to continue to provide effective assistance to people trying to get in touch with missing relatives.

‘In one example, a dying father in the United Kingdom had not been in contact with his New Zealand-based son for 16 years. In his final days of life, the father wanted to know if his son was alive and well. In locating the son, the crucial piece of information was a marriage registration document.

‘Unfortunately, the father died before the son was located, but the son took some consolation from the fact that his father had wanted to find him. Under the Bill, however, The Salvation Army would not have been permitted access to the document and the son would not have known that his father had died, nor that he was looking for him.’

The Family Tracing Service registers about 200 new enquiries each year, with about half of those searches being requested by people living in New Zealand. In the past five years the Service has successfully and happily united and/or reunited over 560 people with family members, including parents and children, siblings, half-siblings, birth parents, adult adopted children, and extended family.

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