The Commonwealth Government will make it simpler to adopt children from overseas.
A new one-stop-shop will be established – the Intercountry Adoption Support Service – to help Australian families work through what can be a long, frustrating and painful process.
Prospective families will be able to access a dedicated 1800 help line and a special website.
Trained staff will advocate on their behalf, dealing with state authorities and partner countries.
Families will be able to get direct referrals to the people they need to talk to.
The plan includes funding for family support services to provide much needed help to parents and families involved in adoption.
For too long adoption has been in the too hard basket, for too long it has been too hard to adopt and for too long this has been a policy no-go zone. It shouldn’t be that way because adoption is all about giving children a better life.
For those parents who want to adopt from overseas, we will make those processes simpler to navigate, with a central contact point.
States and territories will continue to assess the eligibility of people who want to adopt.
The Intercountry Adoption Support Service will be established as soon as April.
This is all about helping the families who want a child, and the children who need a safe and loving family.
There are millions of children in overseas orphanages who would dearly love to have parents. There are thousands of Australians who would dearly love to help those kids have a family.
On average, parents have to wait five years to navigate the overseas adoption process. The Government believes this is not good enough and needs to be significantly improved. The new Service will cut the waiting time while maintaining safeguards.
Prospective parents have told me they simply don’t have anyone advocating for them. Now there will be someone to guide them and support them.
There were 317 adoptions finalised in Australia in 2013-14 (domestic and intercountry). This is the lowest number on record, a fall of 9 per cent from the year before and 76 per cent lower than from 25 years ago (1989-90).
The Government will pursue new intercountry adoption programmes with the USA, Poland and Vietnam. Discussions with four other countries are also progressing.
I sincerely hope these changes and the Government’s other adoption reforms provide significant new hope for people without children and significant new hope for children without parents.
25 January 2015