NSW government launches review after court hears Aboriginal baby’s aunt refused as carer due to same-sex relationship

A children’s court magistrate earlier criticised Anglicare Sydney and the NSW Department of Communities and Justice after a nine-month-old girl’s aunt was overlooked as her carer because she was in a same-sex relationship. Photograph: Dave Hunt/AAP

The New South Wales government says it will review a case, the subject of ongoing court proceedings, in which Anglicare Sydney refused to assess the Aboriginal aunt of an Aboriginal baby as a long-term carer because she was in a same-sex relationship.

A court has heard Anglicare Sydney, with the knowledge of the NSW Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ), sought to have the baby adopted to a non-Indigenous couple.