A Bill reforming the process by which adopted children can obtain Bermudian status has been passed in the House of Assembly.

The Bermuda Immigration and Protection Amendment (Adoption) Act 2016 specifies that adopted children with at least one Bermudian parent can apply for status if the application is made before their 16th birthday and completed before their 18th birthday, according to the Attorney-General.

Speaking on behalf of home affairs minister Patricia Gordon Pamplin, Trevor Moniz explained that presently an adopted child can apply for status between the ages of 18 to 22 if he or she was ordinarily resident in Bermuda for five years immediately preceding the application and was deemed to possess and enjoy Bermudian status for that same period.

The new amendments, however, will allow non-Bermudian children, who are Commonwealth citizens, to obtain Bermudian status, if they are under 18 and were either adopted in Bermuda under the Adoption of Children Act 2006 or outside of Bermuda under The Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption.

In both circumstances, one of the child’s adopted parents must be Bermudian and domiciled on the island on the date of adoption.

“For a child to be eligible for the automatic acquisition of Bermudian status, the adoption process must be initiated before the child’s 16th birthday, and must be completed before the child turns 18,” Mr Moniz said, adding that the Bill “will give security for the automatic privilege of Bermudian status to adopted children”.

He also noted that it was the first legislative reform under the Pathways for Status initiative and was based on recommendations by the Consultative Immigration Reform Working Group.

Acting Opposition leader Walter Roban said the Bermuda Progressive Labour Party supported the amendments and PLP MP Walton Brown, who is a member of the working group, provided context to how the act came about. While defending the role of civil disobedience in forcing the Government to collaborate during the protests that brought legislative proceedings to a standstill in March, he also expressed hope “that we can have this kind of collaboration on critical issues going forward because unilateralism doesn’t do well for anyone”.

Mr Brown detailed how the working group had reached its decision on adoptions, which he described as a “very rigorous process” that does not lend itself to abuse.

He pointed out that on average about five or six foreign-born children are adopted yearly in Bermuda, saying that the “numbers are low enough that it creates no fundamental challenge”.

Mr Brown also noted that the Act was the “first part of an ongoing process of collaboration” and that the group would now focus on mixed-status families.