Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-08T04:22:23.017Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Adoption in Australia: Review and reflection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2016

Patricia Hansen  and
Frank Ainsworth
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In Australia the rate of local or ‘known’ child adoptions is very low. Figures from the US and the UK (England only) are presented to highlight this issue. Adoptions from State ‘care’ are especially low compared with these other countries. This article explores public and professional commentary that may have contributed to the decline in the use of adoptions in Australia. Given that adoption offers the most permanent alternative care arrangement, suggestions are then made as to how adoption might become a more frequently used route out of State care for some Australian children.

Type
Research Article
Information
Children Australia , Volume 31 , Issue 4 , 2006 , pp. 22 - 28
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

AFCARS—see Department of Human Services, Administration for Children and Families.Google Scholar
AIHW—see Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.Google Scholar
HREOC—see Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.Google Scholar
NAIC—see National Adoption Information Clearinghouse.Google Scholar
Ainsworth, F. & Maluccio, A.N. (1998) ‘Kinship care: False dawn or new hope?’, Australian Social Work, 5, 4, 3–8.Google Scholar
Alty, C. & Cameron, S. (1995) ‘Open adoption – the way forward’, International Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 15, 4/5, 40–58.Google Scholar
Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies (2005) Discussion paper: Consideration of adoption for selected groups of children in long term out-of-home care, Sydney, February, viewed 24 August 2006, <www.acwa.org.au>..>Google Scholar
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2005) Adoptions Australia 2004–05, Canberra, viewed 24 August 2006, <www.aihw.gov.au>..>Google Scholar
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2006) Child protection Australia 2004–05, Canberra, viewed 24 August 2006, <www.aihw.gov.au>..>Google Scholar
Benevolent Society (2005) Post adoption resource centre, Sydney, available at http://www.bensoc.asn.au.Google Scholar
Boss, P. (1992) Adoption Australia: A comparative study of Australian adoption legislation and policy, Melbourne: National Children’s Bureau of Australia.Google Scholar
Burford, G. & Hudson, J. (2000) Family group conferencing:. New directions in community-centered child and family practice, New York: Aldine de Gruyter Google Scholar
Churchman, D. (1986) ‘The debate over open adoption’, Public Welfare, Spring, p. 9.Google Scholar
Crime and Misconduct Commission (2004) Protecting children: An inquiry into abuse of children in foster care, Brisbane, viewed 24 August 2006, <http://www.cmc.qld.gov.au/FCINQUIRY.html>..>Google Scholar
Department of Education and Skills (2005) Children looked after in England (including adoption and care leavers: 2004–2005, London, viewed 24 August 2006, <www.dfes,gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SBU/b000425/index.shtml>..>Google Scholar
Department of Health and Human Services. Administration for Children and Families (2004) The AFCARS report. Preliminary’ FY 2002 estimates as of August 2004, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Forde, L. (1999) Commission of inquiry into abuse of children in Queensland institutions, Brisbane.Google Scholar
Fratter, J. (1991) Adoptive parents and open adoption in the UK, London: British Association for Adoption and Fostering.Google Scholar
Geen, R. (2004) ‘The evolution of kinship care policy and practice’, The Future of the Family, 14, 1, 131–150.Google Scholar
Haimes, E. & Timms, N. (1985) Adoption, identity and social policy: The search for distant relatives, Aldershot: Gower.Google Scholar
Howe, D. (1991) Haifa million women: The children they bore yet gave away, London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (1997) Bringing them home: Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families, Sydney.Google Scholar
Macomber, J., Zielewski, E. H„ Chambers, K. & Geen, R. (2005) Foster care adoption in the United States: An analysis of interest in adoption and a review of State recruitment strategies, Washington, DC: Urban Institute, viewed 24 August 2006, <www.urban.org>.Google Scholar
McCroskey, J. & Meezan, W. (1997) Family preservation and family functioning, Washington, DC: Child Welfare League of America.Google Scholar
Mitchell, S. & Maiden, S. (2005) TVF plan ‘jeopardizes chance to have children”, Australian, 21 April, p. 2.Google Scholar
National Adoption Information Clearinghouse (2004) How many children were adopted in 2000 and 2001?, Washington, DC: Department of Health and Human Services. Administration for Children and Families.Google Scholar
NSW Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Amendment (Permanency Planning) Act 2001, Sydney.Google Scholar
NSW Legislative Council Standing Committee on Social Issues (2000) Releasing the past: Adoption practices 1950–1998, Sydney.Google Scholar
O’Halloran, K. (2006) The politics of adoption. International perspectives on law, policy and practice, New York: Springer.Google Scholar
Pine, B., Warsh, R. & Maluccio, A.N. (1993) Together again: Family reunification in foster care, Washington, DC: Child Welfare League of America.Google Scholar
Roche, T. (2001) ‘Is adoption the solution?’, Time, 1 February, p. 10.Google Scholar
Senate Community Affairs References Committee (2001) Lost innocents: Righting the record, Canberra.Google Scholar
Senate Community Affairs References Committee (2004) Forgotten Australians. A report on Australians who experienced institutional or out-of-home care as children, Canberra.Google Scholar
Senate Community Affairs References Committee (2005) Protecting vulnerable children: A national challenge. Second report on the inquiry into children in institutional or out-of-home care, Canberra, viewed 24 Augut 2006, <>..>Google Scholar
Standing Committee on Family and Human Services (2005) Overseas adoption in Australia: Report on the inquiry into adoption of children from overseas, Canberra: House of Representatives, November.Google Scholar
Testa, M.F. (2002) ‘Subsidised guardianship: Testing an idea whose time has finally come’, Social Work Research, 26, 3, 145–158.Google Scholar
Thoburn, J., Norford, L. & Rashid, S.P. (2000) Permanent family placement for children of minority ethnic origin, London: Jessica Kingsley.Google Scholar
Thoburn, J. (2005) Personal correspondence, May 13.Google Scholar
Triseliotis, J. (1991) ‘Open adoption’, in Mullender, A. (ed.), Open adoption – the theory and the practice, London: British Association for Adoption and Fostering.Google Scholar
Whittaker, J.K., Kinney, J., Tracy, E.M. & Booth, C. (1990) Reaching high-risk families. Intensive family preservation in human services, New York: Aldine de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Wulczyn, F., Hislop, K. & Chen, L. (2005) Adoption dynamics: An update on the impact of the Adoption and Safer Families Act, Chicago: University of Chicago, Chapin Hall Center for Children, viewed 24 August 2006, <www.chapinhall.org>.Google Scholar