Federal Government To Create New “Intercountry Adoption Support Service” & Expand Country Agreements
Monday 2 February 2015 @ 10.39 a.m. | Legal Research
The Prime Minister’s Office has announced that it will establish a new agency, the “Intercountry Adoption Support Service”, that is designed to make it simpler to adopt children from overseas. The support service will include “a dedicated 1800 help line” and trained staff who can advocate on behalf of prospective parents. The press release from Mr Abbott said:
“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…
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…
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.”
The press release also noted that currently, it takes an average of five years to navigate the overseas adoption process. It states that in 2013-14, there were 317 adoptions finalised, which 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.”
John O’Neill of Adopt Change told the Sydney Morning Herald the “biggest inhibitor” preventing more families from adopting children was the shortage of countries to adopt from. He particularly welcomed “[t]he steps the government is taking to open up new relationships with more countries”, including the USA, Poland and Vietnam, although he cautioned that appropriate safeguards were needed.
Adoption reform advocate Deborra-Lee Furness, who is the NSW Australian of the Year, and has two adopted children with her husband Hugh Jackman, also welcomed the announcement. Having previously described Australia’s rate of adoptions as “pathetic”, Ms Furness told SBS News that “[e]very step we take in reforming the process is important”.
However, there has also been criticism of the new strategy. Patricia Fronek, a lecturer from Griffith University, has expressed serious concerns about the new strategy, saying that “the approach to adoption has been clouded in secrecy and bias towards the wants of lobbyists”. She is particularly troubled by the Government’s designation of the service as a “one-stop shop”, which she says “paints a picture of commercial transactions and places the emphasis on children as a commodity”. She also notes that it is not yet clear who will be running the agency, and is worried that putting the emphasis on supporting prospective parents is sidelining the needs of potential adoptees, “for whose benefit adoption should be all about”.
According to the press release, Mr Abbott is hoping to establish the new service “as soon as April”.
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