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10 February, 2010

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Adoption explained

Adoption can give a secure family life to children who, for various reasons, can’t live with their birth family. Adoption means that the people caring permanently for the child become the child’s legal parents. This affects the child’s name, birth certificate and inheritance rights.

The most important consideration in any adoption is the best interests of the child. Legislation and adoption arrangements aim to protect children by ensuring that adoptive parents are well suited to understanding and meeting the needs of the adopted child.

Adoption in Victoria
Since adoption legislation was first introduced in 1928, around 64,000 Victorians have been adopted. The number of adoptions has decreased since the 1970s. This is largely due to the increase in social acceptance of single parent families and de facto relationships. Government benefits for single parents and improved access to contraception and abortion are also important reasons for this trend.

Intercountry adoption
Intercountry adoption provides families for children from other countries who:

Have a range of complex medical and psychosocial needs
Are unable to remain in the care of their birth family
Have no other permanent family placement options in their country of origin.

In Australia, arrangements for intercountry adoption are made through central authorities in each state and territory and an Australian central authority. These arrangements are designed to protect both children and adoptive parents by ensuring that children placed for adoption:

Have not been subject to child trafficking
Do actually require adoption outside of their country of birth
Are adopted legally so that there is no possibility of later claim on the child by another person.

Legal issues
Some of the legal issues that relate to adoption include:

Adoption legislation is a state, rather than a federal, responsibility. In Victoria, the legislation is the Adoption Act (1984). Under this Act, adoptive children and birth parents have the right to information and contact.
A child can be adopted if adoption consents have been signed or if the County Court has dispensed with the birth parent’s consent.
In the past, if the birth parents were unmarried, only the mother needed to give consent for the adoption. Since 1984, the Act requires that if the birth father is known, he must be informed that an adoption consent has been signed. He then has the opportunity to legally establish that he is the father. If he has established paternity, he must sign the adoption consent before the child can be adopted.

The types of children placed for adoption
In the 1950s and 1960s, there were more infants available for adoption than there were adoptive parents. Children older than six months were difficult to place. This situation has changed over the years. The types of children placed for adoption in Victoria today include:

Locally born children with special needs
Locally born infants
Children from other countries.

Children with special needs
A significant proportion of the children who need care outside their birth family have special needs such as:

Intellectual or physical disabilities
Emotional difficulties
Having experienced abuse or neglect and not being able to remain safely in the long-term care of their birth families.

There is a particular need for families to care for children who are from disrupted backgrounds and children who have disabilities. These children are likely to be placed in a permanent care placement, rather than adoptive placement. In fact, approximately three-quarters of the children placed each year by adoption agencies are likely to have their placement legalised by an order other than adoption. The Children, Youth and Families Act 2005 (Vic) provides for permanent care orders to recognise these arrangements.

Criteria for couples wanting to adopt
If a couple wants to adopt, the criteria that must be met include:

They must be married or in a de facto relationship for a minimum of two years.
They must be in good health.
They must be able to actively care for the child until the child is 18 years old, which means health and age at the time of adoption are important considerations.
They must have suitable financial circumstances and show that they have the ability to adequately support a child.
They must have a medical examination and a criminal records check.
Other criteria examined include the capacity to provide a stable, secure and beneficial environment for the child.

Changes in attitudes
In the past, the biological background of the adopted child was kept secret. Now we know that such information is vital to a person’s sense of identity. The Victorian adoption laws reflect this, with greater access to information and contact. Open adoption means that the birth parent or parents are allowed access visits to the child, as well as the opportunity to exchange information.

Where to get help

Adoption and Permanent Care Program:
- Eastern Metropolitan Region Tel. (03) 9843 6413,
- Southern Region Tel. (03) 9521 5666,
- Barwon-South Western Region Tel. (03) 5226 4540,
- Northern Metropolitan Region Tel. (03) 9412 5376,
- Western Region Tel. (03) 9687 5200,
- Gippsland Region Tel. (03) 5133 9998,
- Grampians Region Tel. (03) 5332 1434,
- Loddon Mallee Region Tel. (03) 5440 1100,
- Hume Region Tel. (03) 5832 1500
Victorian Adoption Network for Information and Self Help (VANISH) Tel. (03) 9348 2111
Adoption and Family Records Service Tel. 1300 769 926
Intercountry Adoption Service Tel. (03) 8608 5700
Intercountry Adoptive Parents, Australian Society for Intercountry Aid (Children) Victoria Tel. (03) 9888 7988
Association of Relinquishing Mothers (ARMS) Tel. (03) 9798 1166
FACTS International Adoption Association Tel. (03) 9509 0186
Intercountry Adoption Resource Network Australia Tel. (03) 9439 2418
International Adoptive Parents Association Tel. (03) 9817 1313

Things to remember

A small number of locally born children require adoption each year.
Victoria currently has working arrangements with various countries, such as Korea and Thailand, for the purpose of intercountry adoption.
The Victorian Adoption Act 1984 allows adoptive children and birth parents the right to information and contact.

You might also be interested in:
Foster care.
Permanent care - issues to consider.
Permanent care can be challenging.
Permanent care explained.
Pregnancy - your options.

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