Flow of overseas adoptees dries up
Flow of overseas adoptees dries up
by: Lauren Novak and Kris Crane From: The Sunday Mail (Qld) July 08, 2012 12:00AM
THE LUCKY ONES: Zewditu Harding, 18, Banchy Howells, 12, and Tamru Leckenby, 19. Source: Supplied
THE number of Australian families adopting children from overseas is at a 10-year low as foreign countries tighten criteria for potential parents and put fewer children up for adoption.
Queensland parents are waiting up to seven years for their children as countries such as Thailand, India and South Korea place more emphasis on domestic adoptions.
In 2010-11 there were 215 foreign children adopted in Australia, down from 294 in 2001-02 and a peak of 434 in 2004-05. Queensland accounted for only 35 of the 215 adoptions nationally, down from 65 in 2004-05.
This figure is the lowest it has been since the state made no applications for international adoption from 2002 to 2004.
In the past financial year 2011-12 only 17 overseas adoptions were successful for Queensland couples.
Bureaucrats and support services attribute the decline to economic growth and policy changes in countries which traditionally adopt out children and more Australian families deserting adoption because of long waiting periods.
The 2010-11 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Adoptions Australia report notes many countries are prioritising domestic adoptions, which is decreasing the number of children put up for international adoptions and tightening application criteria.
Last week the Australian Government shut down its adoption agreement with Ethiopia.
Couples who have been going through the application process for years were notified on Thursday.
Adoption Research and Counselling Service manager Jennifer Newbold said the average waiting period had "totally blown out" from about six months a decade ago to an average of seven years now.
"People who have been waiting seven years are just getting allocated," she said.
"I think that's only going to grow. At least before, you knew if you kept with the process you would get a child within a couple of years.
"Now it can be an indefinite wait."
The cost is also prohibitive, averaging about $20,000, Ms Newbold said.
In Queensland making an expression of interest is free but an application is $3850.55, then there is another $1650.25 post-adoption assessment fee.
In Queensland a decade ago 18 children were being adopted from China, 16 from Ethiopia and 14 from South Korea.
Those statistics now stand at seven, five and two.
However, the Adoptions Australia report shows the Philippines is only offering adoptions of children under two, while Thailand is only accepting applications for children with special needs.
The International Adoptive Families of Queensland president Tony Dunne said the numbers had been declining rapidly in recent years.
"For many years the programs were very healthy and growing, but in the last four years they have steadily gone downhill," he said.
"Country programs have closed and, with the ones that are still open, there are constantly less and less adoptions happening."
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HEARTBREAK AT CLOSURE
THEY are living the Australian dream, but for many this dream will never come true.
Zewditu Harding, Banchy Howells and Tamru Leckenby came to live with Queensland couples as part of the Ethiopian adoption program which was axed last week.
Tamru Leckenby, 19, from Murrumba Downs came here when he was five and said he is grateful to his parents for their efforts.
"My life has been a complete turnaround. I really don't know where I'd be if I was in Ethiopia," he said.
" I am angry for the people who are in the process and opportunities that could have been made."
One of those couples is Sean and Nikki Crookes for whom a call on Thursday brought an eight-year dream crumbling down. The Rosalie couple adopted their first son, MC, from Ethiopia in 2009. They had decided a sibling for their son was essential and began to file for another international adoption.
Mr Crookes said the news the program had folded was earth shattering. He said: "It was devastating, gut-wrenching. I was at work when I got the phone call which changed everything."