Jono, Ben & Megan - The Podcast - FULL: A Girl Who Legally Doesn't Have A Mother, But Should: A Chat With Paddy Gower

Episode Date: October 21, 2021

There's a little girl in NZ named Paige, who was born via surrogacy. However, her biological mother passed away before she was born. Because of this, her mother cannot be named on her birth certificate, by law. But it's a ridiculous law that needs to be changed. Paddy Gower is fighting alongside this family for Paige's right to have her mother listed as her mother. We caught up with Paddy about this.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Great man, Paddy Goward. He's putting his weight behind a really worthy cause at the moment, Paddy. He's championing for a young Kiwi family, and I'll probably do a shocking job of explaining the details, Paddy. But's championing for a young Kiwi family, and I'll probably do a shocking job of explaining the details, Paddy. But what's going on? Yeah, well, her name's Paige, and she's 18 months old. And guys, she is the only girl in New Zealand, the only child ever in the history of New Zealand to have her mother put down as, quote, not recorded on her birth certificate so

her birth certificate where it says mother she just simply has not recorded now everyone listening will be saying how can that be how can that actually be and I'll tell them she has a mother she has a mother her mother's name is Kat and unfortunately she died before this child was born. Little Paige was a surrogate baby. Kat couldn't have a baby so her egg and her dad's sperm, Kyle, were put together and put inside

one of their friends. Tragically, Kat died before the birth of Paige through a shock death and she wasn't alive to see this beautiful little girl born. And the dumb rules that we have in this country around surrogacy and adoption mean that the mother has to be alive to do the adoption.

So after a surrogacy, when the baby's born, like beautiful little Paige was, you actually go and have an adoption ceremony. And because her mother wasn't alive, the people down in Wellington have just put her down as not recorded. Oh, my gosh. Yeah, it's just not fair, guys, for this little girl who's got a mum. All of her genetics are cats.

Every single part of that egg, she was just carried by a friend, which is a really nice thing to do. And now the family, quite rightly in my view, I don't know what you guys think, but want her mum's name on the bus. Oh, totally. And they probably want closure, I guess, in some ways. This will help their family heal, getting the mother's name rightfully on there. And you said online too, Paddy, no one in New Zealand would oppose this at all.

There's no reason why the mum shouldn't have her name there. Yeah, and you're right about the closure, Ben. It's like emotional torture for them. They've got enough on their plate as it is. So this guy, Kyle, is out, you know, raising a little girl on his own without a mother, and he's got a lot of explaining to do to her. You guys know what an 18-month-old is like. It doesn't take long until they start to know everything. And he's got a lot of explaining to do to her as it is, without having to sort of say I ain't on your birth certificate, you know, your mum's name's not on there. And the thing I've

really liked about it is the surrogate family that were their friends who were doing a favour to them, who believed that everybody has the right to have a child and try to help them, they're being brought into this as well, and it's actually the surrogate father so to speak, the husband of the woman who carried the baby, who's doing a lot of the fighting, get this put right.

He's just a really, really good bugger, and he wants to get it put right. And he's fighting for this as well. So what did the government say? Like, has it gone to the Prime Minister's office? This guy, Josh, who is the surrogate father, has sat in his own time and written letters to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Leader of the Opposition, the Minister of Justice.

He's written letters to everybody. He's pushed and pushed and pushed the case and got absolutely nothing back. They just say, we can't change it. It's against the law. We can't change it. Oh, my gosh. And this guy, Josh, deserves credit.

I think he is just an amazing guy, Josh, who has got out there and fought. Paddy, you mentioned Josh. We've actually got him on the line now. Josh, welcome. Morning, guys. How's it going? It sounds like you're a bit of a selfless saint, my friend.

Oh, I don't know about that. I'm just doing my bit. Very frustrating, I imagine, for you and the family. Yeah, very much so. If losing Catherine wasn't enough of a blow to then have to be dealing with this as well is, yeah, pretty heartbreaking and frustrating. So how many responses have you got back from the departments and from the government?

I've had one from the Internal Affairs Minister where she pretty much just said that the law doesn't allow for it and that was the end of that. Paddy, have you spoken to anyone? Yeah, I mean, I'm about the same as Josh and I've just got to give a huge hug over the phone to Josh because I honestly just think he's the man for getting out there and fighting for this.

I'm used to this kind of thing. Josh is a diesel mechanic. He's got other stuff to do and a family to raise, and he's been taking this all on board himself, guys. He's just bloody awesome. Oh, Josh, you're doing great work. Now, how can we help, Josh? Because everyone listening right now and ourselves,

we're like, we want to help. Is there anything we can do? Yeah, so there's a petition going on change.org. We're currently sitting at, I think last I checked, about 38,000 signatures on that. We're pushing, we're hoping to push for about

50,000 plus. All going well. I don't see why we couldn't get there by the end of the weekend, and then from there we can then take that petition to the government and say hey look we've got all these people behind us You can simply just go onto change.org and just type in PAIGE

and it'll come up Tell them why it means so much to PAIGE you know her better than anyone or as good as anyone. Why does this mean so much to Paige, mate? Yeah, look, for someone down in Wellington who, internal affairs or whoever signs off on birth certificates and that, it's not really much, you know, but for Paige and Kyle, it's everything.

You know, you think about the flow-on effects of what not having a mother on your birth certificate means as Paige grows up, things like trying to get a passport, trying to get your driver's license, all these things where you have to use your birth certificate as proof of identity, that makes things incredibly hard for her as she's growing up through her teen years and all that sort of stuff as well. But also just the fact that, I mean, Catherine's her mum, you know, and as far as we're concerned, it's really that simple. Yeah, well, I mean, hey, well, you and your partner are wonderful New Zealanders as well, for not only what you did for the surrogacy, but what you're doing afterwards as well.

And we hope it all works out in the end. Change.org.nz, you can just type type in page it'll come up let's get on it hits instagram as well for anyone that wants to go there right now it's breakfast on instagram yeah let's get over 50 000 signatures and get this thing changed for young page cool hey thanks guys also just one last thing um patty mate uh far out uh i don't even know what to say to you mate it's uh the fact that you've gotten behind this for us and for Paige is just, yeah, mind-blowing, really. And you've done such an amazing job. And we can tell you're really passionate about this as well.

I'll never stop saying it, mate. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Oh, no, that's all right, mate. It's an honour for me to try and help you guys. An absolute honour. Hey, awesome, guys. Thank you. Thank you so much for your time. And, yeah guys and that's an honour Hey awesome guys, thank you Thank you so much for your time and yeah let's get to 50,000 signatures New Zealand

Thanks for that guys And you can go to change.org and just type in page and you can help out a family who really need our help, let's do this New Zealand it is the hits What more Jono and Ben? You can wake up with the boys weekdays from 6 on the hits and via the iHeartRadio app Jono and Ben on You can wake up with the boys' weekdays from sex on The Hits and via the iHeartRadio app.

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