Deborra Lee Furness, recently awarded the NSW Australian of the Year Award for her adoption campaigning, continues to work to educate law makers and citizens about the need for adoptive homes in Australia. Last year 18,000 Australian children were eligible for adoption, but only 210 of them (roughly 1%) found forever homes.
Ms. Furness has made progress with her Adopt Change Campaign, sees hope as well as lots of work ahead. Her success includes convincing Prime Minister Tony Abbot to work to make things easier for Australians to adopt. But the hard work comes in re-educating the public. For decades there has been a negative stigma about adoption and it’s time for that to change.
With nearly 12,000 Australian children being removed from their abusive and neglectful homes last year, at one point there were a full 50,000 children in foster care. The hope is that with the change of adoption laws, the public will be educated and more children will be out of the system and into families soon.
