Foster child adoption rates at record highs in NSW due to streamlined laws

EXCLUSIVE: Children are being adopted by their foster parents in record numbers due to a radical change in NSW’s laws protecting the state’s most vulnerable kids.

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CHILDREN are being adopted by their foster parents in record numbers due to a radical change in NSW’s laws protecting the state’s most vulnerable kids.

The new system enables foster parents to — as one couple described it — offer a “forever family” to their adopted child without the uncertainty of fostering.

There were a record 127 adoptions in NSW of children who had been living in foster care in the last year alone, up from just 67 the year before — an increase of 90 per cent and a result of the creation of the ­Adoptions Taskforce by the ­Department of Family and Community Services (FACS).

The taskforce was created in June last year and given the mission of clearing the backlog of adoption cases by December under the $24 million Adoptions Transformation program.

The backlog was at 470 cases when the taskforce started, and there are currently 370 adoption matters still in progress.

Michaela Pace and Steven Pace have adopted 6-year-old Jasmine after struggling to have kids. Picture: Carly Earl

Orders made this financial year have taken an average of 4.2 years to be completed, a figure the government hopes to halve in coming years.

In 2010 there were 46 out-of-home adoptions in NSW, and only three in the rest of the country. In 2015 there were 68 in NSW and only two in the rest of the country.

Barnardos Australia CEO Deirdre Cheers said this year’s record number of adoptions was the result of improved NSW care and protection legislation passed in 2014, prioritising permanency for children who had been abused and neglected.

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“NSW legislation prioritises open adoption over long-term foster care as long-term fostering is a less stable care option for the whole of childhood, for children who a court has ­already decided can never return safely home,” Ms Cheers said.

“Barnardos is the only Australian adoption agency specialising in adoption of children from out-of-home care, last year providing about 25 per cent of all out-of-home care adoptions in Australia, and in 2016-17 we anticipate this will increase to more than 33 per cent.

“Barnardos believes that what is happening in NSW in the area of open adoption from out-of-home care is an important step forward for the most vulnerable children in care and protection systems throughout Australia.”

Sue and Neil Coutts with their adopted son Russell. Picture: Supplied

NSW Minister for FACS Pru Goward said NSW was leading the nation in adoptions from out-of-home care and was proud of the record number this year.

“We hope to see a change in attitude towards adoption — one where the community understands that open adoption can provide a safe and loving home for life,” Ms Goward said. “We want the best for our children.”

NSW parents Sue and Neil Coutts, now 54 and 57, know the joy of adoption.

Along with raising three biological children, the couple has adopted two and fostered 55 kids over the years.

NSW Minister for FACS Pru Goward is proud of the record number this year. Picture: Annika Enderborg

Their latest adoption, five-year-old Russell, who has Down syndrome and who  they had been fostering, was finalised in May after a four-year application process.

“We thought we were too old, which is hard to take as you still have so much to give,” Mrs Coutts said.

“The adoption process is long, but it is worth sticking it out. It is gruelling, but it feels like we have won the Lotto twice, he is our second chance and such a gift.

“We wanted to make (it) permanent, we wanted to be his forever family.”

GIVING A GREAT LIFE TO JASMINE

WESTERN Sydney parents Michaela and Steven Pace adopted Jasmine, 6, after struggling to have siblings for their nine-year-old biological daughter Isabella.

“We were going through IVF and decided it was all too much in the end, so we thought we would go through the fostering system,” Ms Pace said.

The couple began fostering Jasmine — “we always wanted to do permanent foster care, which meant any child that came into our care would be with us until they were 18” — and then discovered they could try to adopt her.

It has been a long process to adopt Jasmine, but the Pace family are glad they stuck with it. Picture: Carly Earl

Ms Pace said the adoption process took 3½ years. “It seemed like it was taking forever. There are a lot of forms, a lot of interviews and police, financial and health checks, but all I can say is it’s the best thing that we’ve ever done and we are so glad that we stuck at it,” she said.

Being an open adoption, Jasmine knows she has two mummies, and sees her biological mother and brother six times a year. They also send photos and call on special days like birthdays and Mother’s Day.

“We have been totally honest with her (about her birth) and I’ve been having little conversations with her about it since she was three,” Ms Pace said.

“She is a very well-adjusted, gorgeous little girl and has a really great life with us and Isabella.”