My partner and I have been togeather for 14 and my eldest daughter (15) is not his. We met when she was 12 months old and has always called him Dad. She has always known who her "father" is but has little contact. Her "father" is not on the birth certificate and I have informed him of what we want to do and he is fine with it. Just don't know where to start. We live in Victoria, Australia Hope to get some help with this. Helen

Here it is something about Victorian law from my archive :

PART I
4Definitions
De facto relationship means the relationship of a man and a woman who are living together as husband and wife on a genuine domestic basis, although not married to each other
De facto spouse means—
(a) in relation to a man who is living with a woman in a de facto relationship, the woman with whom he is living in that de facto relationship;
s.
(b) in relation to a woman who is living with a man in a de facto relationship, the man with whom she is living in that de facto relationship;

6 The Court

(1) The Court having jurisdiction to make an adoption order or any other order under this Act shall be—
(a) the Supreme Court; or
(b) at the option of the applicant—the County Court.


10A Application for adoption order
An application for an adoption order under sections 11 and 12 may be made—
(a) in the case of a man and a woman who are married or living in a relationship referred to in section 11(1), if the man and woman have been married to each other or living in that relationship with each other for not less than 2 years;
(b) in the case of a person who is married or living in a relationship referred to in section 11(1) and who proposes adopting a child of his or her spouse or de facto spouse, or a child who is related to his or her spouse or de facto spouse, if that person and his or her spouse or de facto spouse (as the case requires) have been married to each other or living in that relationship with each other for not less than 2 years.


Division 3—Consents to adoptions
33 Consents required to adoptions

(1) Subject to this Division, the Court shall not make an order for the adoption of a child unless the Court is satisfied—
(a) that—
(I) consent (not being a consent that has been revoked) to the adoption has been given in accordance with this Division by the appropriate person or persons ascertained in accordance with this section;

(b) that there is not an appropriate person within the meaning of this section to give consent to the adoption

(3) In the case of a child whose parents were not so married to each other and who has not previously been adopted, the appropriate persons are every person who is the mother of the child or a man—
(a) whose name is entered in the entry relating to the child in a register of births (whether in Victoria or in a place outside Victoria) as the father of the child;


34 Manner of giving consent
s. 34
(1) Subject to this Division, a consent by a person (other than a person to whom section 33(6) applies) is given in accordance with this Division where—
(a) the person has signed the prescribed form of consent in the presence of—
(I) a person referred to in subsection (2); and
S. 34(1)(a)(ii) amended by No. 46/1998
s. 7(Sch. 1).
(ii) a person approved for the purpose by the Secretary or the principal officer of an approved agency; and
(b) the persons in whose presence the form of consent was signed have signed the prescribed statements.



35 Requirements to be complied with

(1) The following requirements shall be complied with before a consent is given by a person (other than a person to whom section 33(6) applies) for the purposes of this Division—
(a) the person shall receive counselling from a person approved for the purpose by the Secretary or by the principal officer of an approved agency;
(b) not less than seven days or, where a shorter period is approved under subsection (2), before the commencement of that shorter period, before the consent is given, the person by whom that counselling was given shall give the person information in writing in the prescribed form about the effect of an adoption order, the alternatives to adoption and the names and addresses of organizations that provide family support services;



43 Court may dispense with consents

(1) The Court may dispense with the consent of a person (other than a guardian under section 33(6)) to the adoption of a child where the Court is satisfied—
(a) that the person cannot, after reasonable inquiry, be found;
(b) on evidence given in accordance with subsection (3) that the person is, and is unlikely to cease to be, in such a physical or mental condition as not to be capable of
Properly considering the question whether the person should give consent;
(c) that the person has abandoned, deserted, persistently neglected or ill-treated the child;
(e) that the person has, for a period of not less than one year, failed, without reasonable cause, to discharge the obligations of a parent of the child;

I am writing to you for help. In April 2009 I married a Russian lady and she has daughter who at the time was 20 years of age and still at university and living with her grandmother. Last year when her daughter completed her degree she was unable to find work, her grandmother cannot keep her on her pension, she could not get a job, she had no money only that I was sending her, we applied for Entry Clearance visa for her to come and live here with us, having sought advice from the Immigration Services and the UK Border Agency, but her application was refused by the UK Border Agency in Moscow on the grounds that my stepdaughter was not living in excetional cicumstances and that she had relatives in Russia who could support her . We appealled and I attended a tribunal in March this year, when the appeal was turned down, the judge agreed with me that the way that the UK Border Agency and the Immigration Services had treated us was diabolical and that in the circumstances she would be angry too. She stated that my wife, myself and her daughter did not have a right to family life and that my wife should have considered this when leaving her daughter to come here and get married In view of the circumstances I wrote to Damian Green MP and Minister for Immigration, my letter was referred to the UK Border Agency who again refused to accept my reasons and said the case was closed.
As a British citizen born and bred here in 1937, have lived and worked here all my life, surely I must have a right to marry whom I please and if that person has a daughter who does not have and never had a father then her daughter must become my responsibility and if this is the case then the judge and the UK Border Agency must be discrimminating against us and denying us of our rights.
I would like your opinion in this case.

My regards

Mr Derek Wilkes

While I am in sympathy with you , I think the UK Border Agency may have some reasons to decline to allow her in the UK.

ECB10.5 Burden of proof

The burden of proof lies with the applicant. This is implicit in the various sections of the Rules which state that entry clearance may be granted '... provided the Immigration Officer (read ECO) is satisfied that each of the requirements (of the relevant Rules) is met'.

If the applicant does not produce evidence, or the evidence produced is inadequate to show that he / she fulfills the qualifying requirements of a category in the Rules, then a refusal will usually be appropriate.

If however the ECO supports a decision to refuse with evidence or allegations which cannot be substantiated or clearly accepted as reliable, a court / adjudicator could decide that the burden of proof fell on the ECO to justify the refusal.

Provided that the evidence used by the ECO to justify a refusal is factual and clear and it is relevant to the Rules applying to the application, the burden of proof will remain with an applicant. For example, if an applicant in the past had had to rely on public funds in the UK or had a poor immigration record, the evidence would be based on facts. The burden of proof would not be on the ECO.

ECB10.10 Who takes the decision on an application?
For the UK:

Decisions on whether to grant an entry clearance must always be taken by an ECO who has completed and passed the full ECO course given by the UK Border Agency International Group training team.


ECB20.5 Appeals

For appeals against a decision made on the basis that the applicant has not attended an interview when requested and / or not supplied documentation when asked:

The ECO must include in the Respondent's Bundle copies of all correspondence referred to in the refusal notice, that is, the letters inviting them to make an appointment for interview and / or supply documents.



Nowadays there are millions of East-Europe and non-EU citizens who yearn to live in the UK mostly to benefit of the British social security system.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gerwaine46

As a British citizen born and bred here in 1937, have lived and worked here all my life, surely I must have a right to marry whom I please and if that person has a daughter who does not have and never had a father then her daughter must become my responsibilty ...

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She is not a minor,she is an adult.;)Thus she cannot be neither your daughter,nor your responsibility. Adult adoption is not allowed in the UK.