Year 10 Legal Studies: Adoption

When politicians and lobbyists call for adoption reform in Australia, they often argue adoption should be easier and quicker. Adopting a child in Australia can be difficult, but whether barriers to adoption are always a bad thing is up for debate.

Couples waiting for years to adopt from overseas, or foster families wishing to make ­children in state care their own, would be ­flummoxed at the story of a teenage mother handing her newborn over without a single ­red-tape hiccup to the care of Andreas and Donna Schibler outside the front door of a Queensland hospital last year.

When pictures emerged of Cate Blanchett cuddling a baby girl earlier this month, it sent the media into a frenzy. Headlines blared of Blanchett and her husband Andrew Upton's "joy" after adopting little Edith into their existing family of three boys.

Karen* was 17, homeless and engaged in sex work, when she found out she was pregnant. She got clean and moved in with her boyfriend's family but the relationship ended soon after the baby was born. Karen resumed taking drugs with a new boyfriend. Worried things had got out of control, she called the NSW Child Protection Helpline.

WATCH THIS: The story, 'Open hearts', details adoption procedures between Ethiopian orphans and Australian couples and the difficulty of the adoption process in Australia.

WATCH THIS: Insight Asks Whether It Should Be Easier To Adopt Australian Children, And How It Will Affect The Children In The Long Term. Jenny Brockie Speaks To Foster Children A
nd Adoptive Parents.

There are over 200 pages of Registrations with over 150 entries per page, being sure to use scroll bar to the right to view all registrations on this page.

When Helmut Uhlmann​ tells people he was adopted as a young child, he's often met with a mixture of surprise and sympathy. "People will say, 'Oh, I'm so sorry, how awful for you,' as if it's really bad," he said. "It was the best thing that ever happened to me. I am so grateful for it. I know that if I were not adopted I certainly would not be where I am now."

The recent release of the Federal Parliamentary Committee report on adoption is trying to conflate two important issues for Australia's vulnerable children: the historically low rate of adoptions and the rising number of children in out-of-home care nationwide.

It’s long been a thorn in the side of many that the media seems to serve up a plethora of negative adoption stories featuring corrupt facilitators, deadbeat birth families, troubled children, abusive foster/adoptive parents, and an overall broken foster/adoption system. We cannot forget all the incredible and good people in the adoption community.