New Family's Janaury 2011 issues and news

1. News Legal Precedent
New Family Launched our newly designed In December 2010, Family Court in Jerusalem ruled for
website! the first time that a man can adopt the child of his male
spouse. Previously, the court allowed men to adopt only
the children of female partners. "This breakthrough is
another step in the legal recognition of the single-sex
family" said attorney Irit Rosenblum, founder and
executive director of New Family, who submitted the
request for adoption behalf of the couple. The child was
born abroad to a surrogate mother two years ago. A
year ago, the couple requested to allow his partner to
adopt the child. Rosenblum says, “The surrogacy
phenomenon created a new situation in which a man
can become a single parent, and his partner is eligible to
adopt the child”. Press written about the precedent in
Our Family Rights Online Information Center
English can be found at our site, press here and here.
publishes data on the rights and status of
families in Hebrew, English, Arabic, Russian,
New Family’s Intervention Got a TA Couple a Marriage
French, Spanish and German. It includes family
License after Their Two-Year Struggle for Recognition of
rights data and statistics, New Family’s series of
their Marriage: Moments Hilit and Udi’s 2008
16 family rights guides, an annual family status
Rabbinical wedding, the Rabbi, asked the bride to prove
report, a dictionary of terms, articles,
that she had dipped in the mikveh. She replied that she
editorials, videos and a social media bar. View
had not, unaware that it would mean that their marriage
it in Hebrew here and in English here. Our
would not be recognized. When the couple went to get
Family Rights Online Information Center in
their marriage certificate, they were stunned to discover
English will be expanded and re-launched in
that they would not be issued one. Their requests for a
the coming months.
marriage certificate were repeatedly refused before the
New Family also launched a blog site press couple resigned themselves to living without formal
here which features posts from guest bloggers. recognition of the marriage. They soon discovered that
A new blog site will be launched in English in being an unregistered couple was intolerable. The
February 2011. Please contact us if you would simplest tasks were complicated by the fact that their
relationship wasn’t registered in government

2. institutions. When their daughter was born, the hospital
refused to register Udi as the father. They were delayed
while tests were performed and Udi filled out paternity
statements and forms. The couple turned to New
Family, who quickly resolved their issue with a letter to
like to write in English for us! the Rabbinate, which then issued the couple their
Please join New Family’s international marriage certificate. Advocate Rosenblum said, ‘The
community on Facebook. religious monopoly over marriage gives the religious
New Family English-language page on Facebook establishment unlimited power to make unreasonable
links people who believe in the human right to demands of the public. Israel is the only democracy in
establish a family from 20 countries and six the world with no civil marriage.’ Links to media reports
languages! Join today!. on this story can be found here.
The ‘Partnership Covenant for the Religion-less’ Law
Hot off the Presses! passed, but provides no solution to the hundreds of
New Family’s Hebrew-language Family Rights thousands of couples that can’t marry in Israel! New
Guide to Couplehood and Common-Law Family’s strident objections to the legislation prevented
Marriage ID Cards has just been printed and the cancellation of the institutions of common-law
delivery will begin soon. marriage and foreign civil marriage for Jews, which
posed the most serious threats to freedom of choice in
Israel. This is a major victory for citizens of Israel to
maintain the status quo and to continue to enjoy the
rights hard-won by New Family’s past legal battles.
Despite its very limited relevance, it deceives the public
into thinking that the law allows civil marriage when in
fact it allows only those couples who are both certified
by the Jewish rabbinical courts as having no religion to
be joined in a civil procedure, which itself is an inferior
substitute for real civil marriage. According to the media,
only one couple has applied for a Partnership Covenant
to date!
You can receive a printed guide by mail or a
PDF edition by email. Order your copy through
our website press here or by phone at 03 566
0504.

3. Advocacy & Action New Family’s Common Law Marriage ID Card-The Only
solution!
MK Ilan Gilon of the Meretz Party enlisted to
the cause of grandparents rights! MK Gilon is Our position on the Partnership Covenant was published
actively promoting a legislative proposal that in a Jerusalem Post op-ed, which can be read at our site
was written in cooperation with New Family. press here.
The proposed law, known as ‘Rights of Minors
to Contact with their Relatives’, passed a A Channel One article, ‘The Partnership Covenant Serves
preliminary reading and is on its way to No One’ in Hebrew can be viewed here. Select press
becoming law. MK Ilan Gilon and Advocate Irit written on New Family’s position on the legislation can
Rosenblum, founder and executive director of be found here.
New Family were interviewed on Yael Dan’s
radio program, ‘Doing Lunch’ about the law. Other op-eds published by New Family in English
Press here to hear the interview in Hebrew. include: Call it restorative justice, deterrence, a penalty,
reparations or damages. Make violent offenders pay for
New Family continues to run a Grandparents
their crimes. Irit Rosenblum’s op-ed “Impose a ‘Violence
Rights Hotline!
Tax’ on Family Violence Offenders” can be read here
New Family opened the hotline to serve
grandparents who are prevented from having Read Advocate Irit Rosenblum’s call to have the
contact with their grandchildren. The hotline Pregnancy Termination Committees dismantled and let
operates under the name ‘‫ ’סב השעה‬and women make the independent choice to end a
responds to legal questions concerning the pregnancy read more here .
rights of grandparents to contact with their
grandchildren. The hotline can be contacted
through here or by phone at 03 566 0504.
Sincere thanks to all those who helped us
reach the winning team in Bank Leumi’s ‘A
Million Good Reasons’ video contest!