Has anyone here adopted from Australia?

Good luck with finding Harshada. Adoptions in Australia are handled by a different gov. dept in each state. Here is the e-mail address for the Dept of Community Services which handles New South Wales adoptions. Hope it is helpful. Jo adoption@community.nsw.gov.au

Thanks Jo! I emailed this dept and am hoping they will email me back. Keep your finger's crossed. Teri

Teri, have you had any success yet? I have adopted four of my eight children from India. I'd like to be able to help you, as two of my children have remained in contact with orphanage buddies and I know how valuable those friendships can be. Can you tell me what city and Indian orphanage the girls were adopted from? That might help me work out which of our states might have handled the adoption. I can also put out a message on our Australian email adoption lists if I have a few more details that might identify Harshada. Julia

The culture in Australia and New Zealand is that it is best for mom and baby to stay together and there is tremendous government and societal support - therefore a 17 year wait to adopt a white domestic also aboriginal - very stringent controls on who can raise an aboriginal. I have a friend in south wales and there was on 1 adoption last year. Unlike the US - private adoption is banned and only government controlled adoption and no $$ at all exchanged. - again there was an entire culture shift in the late 80's early 90's and opening of closed adoption records. To put it another way - women are not surrendering their children because these countries are humane and have found a way to protect and promote the sanctity of the mother and child bond. If and when an infant can not be raised by their mother and no family member is available, the government picks the family from a long waiting list and no money is exchanged.

I agree with most of your post regarding adoption in Oz (private adoption is illegal, aboriginal placement of children is tightly controlled, states have all legislated for access to information for adoptees and birth family) but a couple of points need correcting. According to the source of statistics on adoptions in Australia - the Aust Institute of Health and Welfare - there were 22 local placement (i.e. unrelated child) adoptions in NSW last year. I don't know the figures for NSW on age, but nationally 69% of local placement adoptions were of infants under 1 year old. [url]http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/cws/aa02-03/aa02-03.pdf[/url] The latest info on placement adoptions on the NSW DOCS website only gives info for 1999. It said that 18 healthy children had been adopted in that year through the local program and most were aged under 2 years. Another 4 children had been adopted through their special needs adoption program. To the best of my knowledge Aussie families pay fees for local and for intercountry adoptions in all states, though the fees paid are considerably lower than the costs of adopting in the USA. The NSW Dept of Community Services website on adoption information provides the following information on the costs of adopting. [url]http://www.community.nsw.gov.au/adoptions/adoptachild.htm[/url] "Are there Costs for Adoption? Fees are set by Regulation and are reviewable by the Director General. The approximate costs for each of the adoption programs are as follows. Local Adoption $2,753 plus legal fees of $834 Intercountry Adoption $2,853 Departmental fees plus legal fees, immigration sponsorship charges; travel expenses, translation fees and charges imposed by the overseas country/agency. These additional costs are often in the range of $10,000 - $20,000." Julia

How common is older child adoption? is it possible? do you have to foster first? What are the criterion that have to be fulfilled?

Thanks Julia. Yes, I finally found the agency that Harshada's parents are using. A SW from Melbourne emailed me that she knows Harshada's family and that they are in India picking her up now. She said she will forward our information to them. We are very happy and hopeful that these people will contact us so Mitali can talk to Harshada. Mitali needs to know that Harshada is safe and happy. Mitali felt like Harshada's big sister and separating them was the wrong thing to do, but since that was out of our hands I trust that God has a hand in this and has given Harshada wonderful parents. We are anxious to meet them and share stories and information about our girls. Teri:)

Terri, I am so excited for you and your family. That is great news!!! Jo from Australia

Hi Lindsie, I'm just responding to your question on older child adoptions. They are very common, I know many families, including ours, that have adopted older children. Are you asking about foreign or domestic adoptions? I can't speak for domestic adoptions since I have no experience in them, but I know there are hundreds of children on the adoption websites in American foster homes waiting for families. We adopted a 4 yr old from India two years ago. I highly recommend adopting from India if you are condsidering a foreign adoption. The children are loved and treated kindly by the orphanages and foster homes. Our daughter had no adjustment issues and was thrilled to get a family of her own. I'm happy to share more off-line if you like. My email address is brianschultz2@mchsi.com. If you decide to adopt the most important thing is that you choose a reputable and honest adoption agency. A good agency will fit the family to the child, rather than just randomly give a child to a family. This makes all the difference. Good luck, Teri

Hi there, I am an Aussie Adoptive Mum to three children, all from Australia. Our first boy came at 12 weeks and was straight out adoption. We waited a short time for him after we were finally assessed. Our second son came through a program (Permanent Care) at 12 months and our daughter came through (PC) at 10 months. We consider all in exactly the same way, that is adopted. Permanent care is the way of the future in Australia. We have had the system in Victoria for over 10 years now but I believe it is only just occurring now in NSW. We were told that in every instance the Department will go with Permanent care, rather than Adoption if possible in the future. I agree with the other ladies here, it is EXTREMELY DIFFICULT to adopt within Australia and IMPOSSIBLE for people to adopt Aussie kids from outside our country. I know of people who never ever get a child placed with them. With both Adoption and Permanent care in Australia it is completely OPEN...this means that the Birth Mother/Father get a say in who the child goes too.... It is a very emotional and lengthy procedure but TOTALLY worth it when you have the children...Another difference between Victoria and New South Wales I believe is cost...in Vict. it costs nothing to adopt yet in NSW you have to pay Social workers etc... Good luck with your quest for a child....Lyn

[QUOTE=BlueAngelAu] On another note : Would Americans allow Australians to adopt THEIR Children????? The swing swings both ways. QUOTE] I can't answer for everybody...but my personal opinion is if there was a child in need of a home in America and there was a home to be had in Australia. Yes. Does the swing swing both ways with you too?

I have known several Aussies who have adopted American children. Most did it while living and working in the US. As I understand it, in theory any two countries that have signed and ratified the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption can send and receive children for adoption. So a waiting child in the US could be placed in Australia, and a waiting child in Australia could be placed in the US, if both countries agreed. In practice, though, it won't happen as we have very few children awaiting adoption, and those that are (see [url]http://www.acwa.asn.au/BMF/[/url] for information on waiting children in NSW) tend to have complex challenges and often ongoing contact requirements. When we investigated adopting a waiting child within Australia we weren't even able to realistically consider adopting between states - so I can't see it happening between countries. My personal opinion is that all children deserve decent families, so I would rather see any child adopted to a loving home in any other country than left without a permanent family. But movement of children between nations and cultures should only take place when no other suitable permanent option is available. Julia

Back when I gave up my daughter (1981) there was around 100 adoptions a year in my state...when I was pregnant I stayed in a Catholic Unmarried mums home...this place was fairly new and set out as 4 x 3 bedroom apartments with a huge pool ......but I remember one of the workers telling me that they had designed them so they could easily be converted to Apartments for the general public when they were no longer needed to help girls like me ;) Well for about 10 years ago they were sold off and the rest of the place demolished and the land sold off to developers....I was speaking to a social worker friend of mine who tells me that in my state in Australia there is less than 4 babies available for adoption each year...woman tend to foster their children rather than adopt...and the babies that are adopted often have parents with Mental Health Issues or an Intellectual Disability.

Can I just say that is very good to hear for me and my hubby who are about to start the process to know that the PC system works so well

Can I just say that is very good to hear for me and my hubby who are about to start the process to know that the PC system works so well thank you for that