Adoption by foster parents: one state dominates national figures

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/12/adoption-foster-parents-nsw-dominates

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Almost every adoption in Australia by carers such as foster parents took place in New South Wales in the past financial year, contributing to a rise in overall adoption after the lowest recorded number last year.

The number of finalised adoptions in Australia was 339 in the 2012–13 financial year, up from the previous year’s all-time low of 333, according to the latest report on adoption from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

Australian children made up 210 of the adoptions and of those 78 were adopted by carers such as foster parents in NSW. Outside of the state there were just three other adoptions by carers.

The 81 adoptions represent a 10-year high for this type of adoption — more than triple the 25 such adoptions in the 2003-04 financial year.

The CEO of Barnados, Louise Voigt, attributed the number to the state’s family and community services minister, Pru Goward, focusing on reforming adoption laws in NSW.

“In the circumstances, where as difficult as it is for the child, there is a court order that says their birth family are not capable of raising them and they need to be placed in long-term foster care, they need to have a chance of having a stable family,” she said.

The report also attributed NSW’s adoption rate to the reforms in laws since Goward became minister.

Voigt said adoption was not being done in a secretive “old fashioned” way with sealed files, as 87% of Australian adoptions were open, meaning the children had some type of contact with their biological parents.

“The hurdles in different state for adoptions by carers is a topic all on its own,” she said.

“The legislation on adoption is a state-by-state system and there is a pretty difficult history in Australia when it comes to adoption from the stolen generation to forced adoptions from very poor mothers who would have been able to provide a loving environment to raise their children.”

Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia all recorded jumps in overall adoptions while Victoria decreased from 72 to 44, Australian Capital Territory fell from 11 to 6 and South Australia went from 24 to 20.

Voigt said while the states had varying laws when it came to adoption she believed it would be too complex to nationalise the system.

“I’m baffled by anyone asking [if adoption laws should be nationalised], it would be very strange if we arranged for state and commonwealth laws for just one issue,” she said.

“The nature of Australia is that it is based on a state system.”

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report said despite the small increase in adoption year on year there had been a substantial long-term decline in local and overseas adoption, with the number falling 33% since 2003-04 and 77% since 1988-89.

“This can, in part, be attributed to legislative changes, such as the increased use of alternative legal orders in Australia, as well as to broader social trends and changing social attitudes which have made it easier for children to remain with their birth family or within their country of origin,” the report said.

The average intercountry adoption took about five years and 76% of the parents were aged older than 40 compared to 35% of parents who adopted in Australia and more than 90% of couples who adopted were married.

The median age of a birth mother who put their child up for adoption in Australia was 23 while the oldest mother to do it was 43.

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