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current adoption news

June 2008

• upcoming events
• latest developments
• country news
• intercountry staff contacts
• adoption statistics
• providing feedback on this newsletter

upcoming events:

(Events given coverage in this publication do not necessarily represent the view of the Minister or Director General of the Department of Community Services. The accuracy or currency of information regarding these events is the responsibility of the individual organisations.)

• Heritage Tour of China - April 2009
  Families are invited to be involved in celebrations to mark the 10th Anniversary of the Bilateral Agreement on Intercountry Adoption.
  
  If you would like to be part of this tour, contact CCAustraliaHeritageTour@yahoo.com.au.
• AFC/ACC playgroup activities
  Wizzy World - 2 July 2008
  Eastern Valley Way, Willoughby
  Cost is $12 per child over 12 months (remember to bring socks). All welcome.
  
  Picnic/Lunch - Sunday, 22 June 2008
  Villa Maria Hall, Hunters Hill
  download booking form
  
  

See a list of all support organisations and playgroups.

latest developments:

Adoption services has moved

DoCS Adoption and Permanent Care Services and the Adoption Information Unit has moved from Parramatta to Ashfield.

The Adoption Information Unit (AIU) comprises the former Family Information Service and Post Adoption Support Service. AIU is part of DoCS’ Records Access Branch.

All clients should present at the reception desk at 4-6 Cavill Avenue, Ashfield when requesting to see an adoption worker or attending seminars.

Adoption Conference 2008

The 9th Australian Adoption Conference “Connecting Past, Securing Future” will be held from 2-5 September 2008 in Sydney. Please see the link below for further information. http://www.australianadoptionconference.com/

National Peak Overseas Adoption Support Group

On 30 March 2008, the Attorney-General, the Hon. Robert McClelland, announced the appointees to the National Peak Overseas Adoption Support Group.

The new Peak Group will provide a national voice to Government and work to ensure that the intercountry adoption community in Australia is well represented.

Cambodia

In February 2008, a delegation from the Intercountry Adoption Branch of AGD visited the Kingdom of Cambodia. The purpose of the visit was to discuss the progress the Cambodian Government had made towards the implementation of the Hague Convention and to enter into discussions with the Cambodian Central Authority regarding the possible technical assistance AGD may provide.

Vietnam

In late January 2008, officers from the Intercountry Adoption Branch of AGD returned to Vietnam to continue investigations into the possible establishment of an intercountry adoption program.

Further information about the outcome of these visits is provided on their website in the 'What's New' section.  If you have any questions or comments about the visit, please email: intercountryadoption@ag.gov.au

country news

China

The China Centre for Adoption Affairs’ (CCAA) changed their selection criteria for prospective adoptive parents for all dossiers sent to China from 1 May 2007.

The last group of families to be matched with children needing family placement outside China (Family Group 35) received news of this on 9 April 2008 after waiting approximately 27 months. Family Group 75 is now closed. Family Group 76 is currently open (as at 1 May 2008).

Expedited applications – China

Applicants who wish to enquire about expedition are advised to contact casework staff at Intercountry Adoptions to discuss their individual application.

China – Document Processing Information – February 2008

Advice has now been received that CCAA document processing information is now available on Commonwealth Central Authority’s (Federal Attorney- General’s Department) website. Visit their website for the latest news.

Fee changes:

CCAA have advised that due to fluctuations in the exchange rate, the service fees for the China intercountry adoption program will be increased from 1 January 2008.

The service fee will be increased from USD$620 to USD$660 per dossier and from USD$390 to USD$420 per dossier for special needs children. The increase applies to all dossiers received on or after 1 January 2008. This includes the EMS (Express Mail Service) charge.

If you believe your application may be affected by this, please email the Intercountry Adoption staff on intercountry@community.nsw.gov.au.

Korea

Eastern Social Welfare Society (ESWS) provided an update on the status of Australia's intercountry adoption program with Korea during a discussion with the Australian Central Authority on 3 July 2007.

The current suspension of the program is a result of the Korean Government's efforts to promote domestic adoption in that country. Australia supports Korea in this respect and notes that the preference for domestic adoption over intercountry adoption is consistent with the Hague Convention to which Australia is a party.

ESWS noted that they hope to continue the good relationship that has been developed between Australia and Korea but were unable to indicate if or when they might accept additional adoption applications from Australia in the future.

NSW received 11 allocations from Korea in 2007, with 7 of these occurring since July. Children were aged 5-6 months at the time of allocation and had no medical issues. The waiting time to travel to Korea remains around 3 months from allocation. NSW has areceived 3 allocations this year.

70 adoption applications were forwarded to Korea from Australian families for the 2006 quota. As of 31 January 2008, 59 of these families have been matched with children and 11 dossiers still remain in ESWS awaiting allocation.

The Australian Central Authority is in contact with ESWS regarding the future of the program and will provide any further update as it becomes available.

Ethiopia

Applicants considering applying to adopt a child from Ethiopia need to be conscious that once approved, they will wait a substantial period of time before their dossier is able to be sent to Ethiopia. Families must meet Ethiopia’s various criteria (e.g. age of applicants) at the time their dossier is sent overseas.

NSW is able to have 20 files in Ethiopia at any one time. When a family receives an allocation, the next application off the waiting list can be sent.

NSW has received 12 allocations since January 2007 from Ethiopia.

Philippines

The Australian Central Authority has announced that the Philippines Inter-country Adoption Board (ICAB) have accepted an invitation for a delegation to visit Australia in September 2008. Visit their website for further information.

Marriage Criteria - The Inter-Country Adoption Board (ICAB) has amended the marriage requirement for prospective adoptive parents applying for the Philippine ICA program.

From the previous 3 years marriage requirement, the Board will now consider the length of the common law relationship of applicants (that culminated in a legal marriage) in the determination of the stability of the couple’s relationship. Thus, applicants who have only been married for one year but have been living together in a common law relationship for several years will now be considered.

Visa Medical-Following an allocation, ICAB have informed that passports are now required before a Visa Medical can be arranged for a child. The new practice (as of mid 2007) is understood to run as follows: further to ICAB being advised that the adoptive parents have formally accepted the child placement proposal, ICAB make arrangements for the child's Filipino passport to be issued, and only after this is the child taken for the visa medical. Previously, the child's medical and the application for the child's passport could be sought concurrently.

The main outcome of the changes will be that the timeframe for the child's paperwork will be extended to allow for the passport and visa medical to be obtained and carried out one after the other. Based on some recent Australian allocations, this change seems to be extending the timeframe from about 3 months to 4 months from allocation to travel.

ICAB have recently provided the following information, regarding waiting times and the needs of children, which we wish to share with families:

For the first quarter of 2008, we have noted the increase in the number of adoption applications. Although we are pleased that many of your families would want to adopt a child from our country, we are also concerned because we currently have very few children available for intercountry adoption. This would mean that there will be a longer waiting period for child placement.

They then go on to say, we are concerned that families will have to wait for a longer period of time (perhaps from two years and longer) before they receive a child proposal from our country. Again, we emphasize the need to encourage your adoptive families to be more open in accepting children with some medical conditions and "with no background information" so that the waiting period for a child placement will be shortened. Kindly share this concern with your adoptive families.

We hope this information will be taken on board by families in the spirit in which it is given, that is, to keep families informed as much as possible of the needs of children and waiting times for placement rather than raising families' anxieties. This information can also be found on the Attorney General’s website.

23 allocations were received in 2007 and 2 allocation have been received in 2008.

Bolivia

Intercountry adoption staff are regularly in contact with the NSW Representative in Bolivia but she is unable to provide information on the timeframes or likelihood of allocations in respect of specific applications. It is the Bolivian Judges who are responsible for the matching of children to specific adoption applications waiting at the Court.

The Representative reported as of December 2007 that the Bolivian Courts had finished dealing with the 2005 applications and would begin considering 2006 files.  

The country continues to experience some political unrest and staff in the Bolivian Central (adoption) Authority have changed. The representative stated that there is no quota system with the Bolivia Program. NSW received one allocation in January 2008.

Taiwan

Christian Salvation Service (CSS) will celebrate 25 years of service in July 2008. Celebrations will include a week of events and CSS has extended an invitation to families who have adopted children from Taiwan. For more information on CSS 25th Anniversary celebrations please contact Caseworker for Taiwan, Yee Fun (Rebecca) Lau or ASIAC.

The Taiwanese adoption agency, Christian Salvation Service have a continued need for applications from families who are able to care for children with special needs backgrounds.

Due to changes in the Chinese and South Korean intercountry adoption programs, and other factors, there have been increased numbers of applications to CSS from across Australia.  As a result, CSS anticipate that waiting times for adoption/placement proposals in 2008 will extend to at least 18 months.

Families wishing to adopt a child with no difficult background will have to wait a significantly longer time for placement as CSS advised that healthy infants with uncomplicated social backgrounds are placed with couples seeking local adoption in Taiwan. CSS has advised that although applicants can request a gender preference this is a preference only and is subject to CSS discretion.

In recent correspondence CSS outlined procedures for dealing with applications were one adoptive parent is an Australian citizen and the other is a citizen of another country. CSS noted that it is advisable for applicants to provide additional information to confirm that the child to be adopted will be made an Australian citizen and that the child is entitled to Australian citizenship.

If this applies to you please contact the Caseworker for Taiwan, Yee Fun Rebecca Lau to discuss the necessary documentation required for your application.

11 Allocations were received in 2007 and 2 allocations have been received by NSW in 2008.

Thailand

We have now received advice from the Thai Central Adoption Authority that the Australian quota for 2008 will be 40 applications. The quota will be divided amongst the States and Territories in accordance with population, with some allowance for smaller jurisdictions.

The quota for 2007 was also 40, and was distributed in the same manner. The numbers will be distributed as follows:

Please note that the quota does not include applications for children over four years of age and applications for children with special needs. Thailand will accept these files at any time.

Thailand will generally consider placing a child under 24 months to applicants under 40 years of age. Applicants up to 45 years will be considered for a child up to 4 and applicants over 47 will be considered for a child over 4.

6 allocations were received in 2007 (2 of these families were transferred from another State). On average, the waiting time for an allocation for these families from the time their file was received by Thailand ranged from 11 months to 16 months.

India

It continues to be difficult to locate agencies in India that are able to accept applications from Australia.

However, applications from people where one of the couple has an Indian passport or an Overseas Citizen of India passport are given preference and are more readily accepted by Indian adoption agencies.

Overseas Citizen of India is commonly known as dual Citizenship. Since 26 November 2006, Overseas Citizen of India passports and Indian passports are of equal status.

Families who are considering applying to adopt from India should contact Elizabeth Amit, caseworker, and discuss their specific circumstances.

intercountry staff responsibilities

The ICA team has seen several staff changes in the last few months.

ICA is pleased to welcome Suzanne Cavallo as Manager Casework for the Intercountry Adoption Program. Suzanne comes to us with significant experience in intercountry adoption.

ICA is also pleased to welcome back Jenny Loftus who comes with extensive experience having worked in the position some years ago.  

ICA said farewell to Karen King, Customer Service Officer this month, a recruitment process is currently underway for this position.

There continues to be a high number of enquiries and applications to DoCS for intercountry adoptions. To help us assist as many people as possible, it is preferred that contact be made via email to intercountry@community.nsw.gov.au.

Specific enquiries may be directed to the attention of the staff member responsible. Staffing responsibilities are as follows:

Suzanne Cavallo – Manager Casework
Anjali Russell- Program Development Officer (including the Philippines, Chile and Colombia programs)

Caseworkers and the countries they are responsible for are as follows:

Enquires regarding expressions of interest, seminars and lodgment of adoption applications should be directed to the Customer Service Officer.

Enquiries from assessment stage should be directed to:
Connie Miller (Client Surnames A-K)
Jenny Loftus (Client Surnames L-Z)

Adoption Statistics – Intercountry

Your feedback on this newsletter or what you would like to see in it is welcome. If you have any comments, email them to adoption@community.nsw.gov.au