Lauren Novak: Why is adoption so difficult in SA?
ADOPTION saved my best friend’s life. If her parents hadn’t brought her home from India 29 years ago she most likely would have died.
ADOPTION saved my best friend’s life.
While I don’t like to be reminded of it too often, if her parents hadn’t brought her home from India 29 years ago she most likely would have died of health complications or the depravation of poverty.
She may not have grown into the amazing working mum she is today and we certainly wouldn’t have had the chance to be friends from just a few years of age.
As I approach what my mates and I jokingly refer to as “baby-making” age, I’m starting to realise the impact that my friend’s life story has had on my views of parenthood.
If I’m unable to have children of my own I am definitely open to adopting. The problem is it’s much more difficult to do these days.
Adoptions by Australians fell to a record low of 317 in 2013-14.
Over the past 25 years, numbers have plummeted from almost 1300 a year at the end of the 1980s.
This is partly because as economic conditions improve in countries from where Australians traditionally adopt children — China, India, South Korea — fewer children are being put up for adoption and criteria for potential parents is tightening.
Waiting times have blown out to an average of about five years.
Parents wanting to adopt a child from Taiwan have the shortest average wait (just more than three years) while those waiting for a child from China face an eight-year delay.
The cost can also be prohibitive, averaging about $20,000 according to some adoption advocates.
Then there are the personal reasons that can put potential adoptive parents off.
Fertility or other health issues often prompt people to consider adoption, but advancements in IVF technology make it possible for couples to persist longer with having a baby.
Some argue it is selfish to add our own children to the world when there are already so many in need but the desire to have biological children can be very strong and I identify with that.
Some people can feel unsure about taking in “someone else’s child”, questioning whether they could love them in the same way as a birth child. Although in every case I know of, this worry has melted away as a newly creates family bonds.
The South Australian Government is reviewing the Adoption Act, which has changed little since 1988.
The review will consider issues including the rights of same-sex couples and single parents to adoption and whether more children in state care should be eligible to be permanently adopted.
There are thousands of children living with foster families or in state homes but it is very rare for South Australian children to be put up for adoption.
In 2013-14, 157 Australian children were adopted by people “known” to them — such as a relative, carer or step-parent — but none in South Australia.
Of the known adoptions nationally, most took place in NSW where the latest Adoptions Australia report recognises policies “increasingly promote adoption to achieve stability for children … when reunification (with birth parents) is not considered appropriate”.
And that’s what I’m talking about — cases where it is clear a child should not or can never return to the care of their biological parents.
It is a very serious decision to permanently remove a child from her family.
History shows us it should not be taken lightly or rashly, or done for the wrong reasons.
The process should remain rigorous, with all the necessary criminal history and background checks as well as assessments of potential adopters’ capacities to parent and emotionally support a child.
There are hundreds of kids removed from their families each year, and many are put on guardianship orders which place them in the care of the state, other relatives or foster families until they are 18 years old.
There is always the chance their cases could be reassessed and they could be returned to their biological families.
Adoption, in the right cases, would give both the child and new parents certainty and peace of mind to go about creating strong bonds.
The families I meet through my work, and the experience of my best friend, remind me that there are so many children in this world without parents and plenty of people ready to make space in their lives for them.
To make a submission to the Adoption Act review visit www.yoursay.sa.gov.au
For information about becoming a foster carer phone 1300 236 783.