Media/ Student resource kit

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Adoption and permanent care provide a stable and secure family life for children who, for various reasons, cannot live with their birth family. Intercountry adoption provides families for children from overseas who are unable to live with their family.

What are the guiding principles of adoption and permanent care?

• Adoption and permanent care are services for children.
• The rights of the child shall always prevail in any situation of conflicting interests between the parties involved.
• Adoption and permanent care are an option for children only when their parents are unable to fulfil their parenting role.
• The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states that Intercountry adoption should be considered only when foster care or alternate care in the child's country of origin is not possible.
• The Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Cooperation in respect of Intercountry Adoption established an international framework for overseas adoptions.
• Children placed with adoptive parents have the right to maintain links with their past, including their culture of origin.
• The same standards shall apply to all forms of adoption, including Intercountry adoption.
• Information on one's background is basic to the development of self-identity in adopted people.
• There are significant differences between adoptive and biological parenthood and these should be recognised by all parties at each stage of the adoption process.

What types of children are placed for adoption and permanent care?

Children of varying ages from a range of backgrounds may require adoption or permanent care. They include locally born children of all ages and children from overseas countries. The number of infants available for placement is limited. There is a particular need for families to care for locally born children who are from disrupted backgrounds and children who have disabilities. These children may have family backgrounds of mental illness, or alcohol or drug addiction, and have often had many moves and caregivers. Siblings requiring permanent placement are nearly always placed together. Some children have additional needs as the result of a disability or developmental delay. They may have a specific disability (such as Down's syndrome, spina bifida or cerebral palsy) or the cause of the disability may not be known.

Children placed for Intercountry adoption may have been cared for in institutions and therefore had little opportunity to form close relationships with caregivers. Children placed for Intercountry adoption may have some minor health problems or have suffered from malnutrition.

A brief history

Although an informal type of fostering or 'boarding out' was common during the late 1800s, it was not possible to legally adopt a child in Victoria until the proclamation of the first Adoption Act in 1928. Parliamentary debates of the 1920s indicated a desire to protect the interests of the adoptive parents, birth mother and adopted child. Secrecy surrounded the process due to the stigma attached to illegitimacy. The focus on secrecy continued during the 1950s and 1960s. Physically matching the child as closely as possible with the adoptive parents was emphasised so that the child could substitute for a biological child of the adoptive parents.

What were the characteristics of children placed for adoption in the 1950s and 1960s

During the 1950s and 1960s there were more infants available for adoption than couples wanting to adopt. Some women had little choice but to relinquish a child born outside marriage given the lack of financial support and the negative social attitudes toward single mothers. The community view of adoption was that it was a way that an infertile couple could achieve a family, and the problem of illegitimacy could be dealt with at the same time. Children had to be passed as medically 'fit for adoption' prior to placement; the implication was that adoptive parents had a 'right' to the 'perfect' child. Children over the age of six months were considered difficult to place, and older children or children with disabilities were generally regarded as unplaceable.

Why has there been such a decrease in infant adoptions since the early 1970s?

During the 1970s the number of infants placed for adoption decreased dramatically. In Victoria, for example, in the 1971-72 financial year 1,529 children were placed for adoption. By 1973-74 the number had dropped to 827, and by 1976-77 it was 476. In 1999-00, 20 infants were placed for adoption in Victoria and in 2005-06 17 infants were placed with adoptive families. This decrease was the result of a number of interrelated factors:

• The introduction of government benefits for single parents.
• Increasingly tolerant community attitudes toward exnuptual births and single parenthood.
• Improved contraception.
• The widespread availability of pregnancy terminations.

What have been the consequences of the decrease?

By the late 1970s, the number of infants available for adoption had decreased to the extent that some adoption agencies had closed and the remaining agencies had long waiting lists. Recent trends are towards placement of children with 'special needs' who previously were not considered suitable for adoption. This group includes older children and children with disabilities. Many of these children are not legally available for adoption. The permanent care order became available in 1992. This order grants custody and guardianship to the permanent caregivers. While initially primarily motivated by humanitarian concerns, Intercountry adoption has also increasingly been seen as an option by couples unable to have biological children.

When did intercountry adoption commence in Victoria?

Intercountry adoption commenced on a significant scale following the Second World War and increased as a result of the Korean War in the 1950s. In the early 1970s, families began seeking to adopt children from Vietnam. The 1975 Vietnam airlift brought almost 300 children to Australia and many were placed with Victorian families. In the late 1970s, working relationships were developed with a number of Asian countries and, more recently, with some African and South American countries.

What overseas countries does Australia currently have working arrangements with for the purpose of intercountry adoption?

Arrangements for overseas adoption occur either under the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Cooperation in Intercountry Adoption or under bilateral government-to-government arrangements. Victoria currently has intercountry adoption arrangements with countries in South America, Asia, Europe, Africa and the Pacific. These arrangements help to ensure that an overseas adoption is in the best interests of the child. At times, overseas countries may cease accepting files or new families for a period, or indicate that only certain groups of children are available for placement; for example, older children.