current adoption news
October 2009
latest developments
Department of Human Services NSW
The Department of Human Services NSW is now in place and led by Director-General Jennifer Mason, former Director-General of DoCS. Human Services brings together community services, ageing, disability services, housing, juvenile justice and Aboriginal affairs.
The former departments are now agencies. Community Services (previously DoCS) is headed by Annette Gallard who previously held the role of DoCS Deputy Director-General Operations.
Human Services priorities include:
- improved service delivery in rural and remote communities in Western NSW
- improved services for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness
- better and more integrated services for complex and challenging clients, particularly adolescents
- action to strengthen the NGO sector and reduce red tape
- improving service delivery for Aboriginal children, families and communities.
For any adoption applicants due to pay monies for adoption fees or notarisation, legalisation or authentication fees, please now make cheques or money orders out to “Community Services, Department of Human Services NSW”. Many thanks for your assistance in this. Adoption and Permanent Care Services will be changing their documentation accordingly.
Philippines – Post-adoption – 15 October 2009
The Australian Central Authority has received advice from the Inter-Country Adoption Board of the Philippines concerning the Board’s policy on post-adoption searching and reunion by adoptees and adoptive families. The Board has recently issued a resolution that the appropriate age for an adoptee to initiate the search and reunion process is the age of majority applicable under the laws of the Receiving Country. For Australian adoptees, this will require that adoptees are at least 18 years of age. Requests for search and reunion from adoptive parents in relation to their adopted child will only be considered by ICAB once the adoptee is 18 years of age and has given written consent. The Board has stressed the importance of the emotional maturity of the adoptee as a major consideration in the search and reunion process. This policy is now effective and applies to all partner countries.
Further information on post-adoption searching can be found on the Philippines Country Program Information page by following the link to ‘Country Programs’ on the Intercountry Adoption pages of the Australian Central Authority’s website: www.ag.gov.au.
Ethiopia update – single applicants
The Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department recently informed all Central Authorities that the Ethiopian Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA) announced that no further adoption applications from single applicants will be accepted.
MoWA has agreed that existing applications already approved by States and Territories (and currently on the waiting list) can be progressed, however single persons awaiting approval, including those who have lodged adoption applications and currently under assessment, will not be progressed.
Those applications currently lodged with the Australian Representatives in Ethiopia will continue to be progressed.
If you believe you will be affected by this change of criteria, and wish to discuss your circumstances, please contact us via email: intercountry@community.nsw.gov.au and let us know when we can contact you.
Philippines update – moratorium on applications for children aged 0-24 months
As you may be aware, the Inter-Country Adoption Board of the Philippines (ICAB) recently informed all partner countries that from 1 May 2009, they will only accept new applications for families willing and able to care for children aged over twenty-four months.
ICAB have advised that this is “due to the large numbers of unmatched, approved applications for children aged 0 to 2, with or without medical/developmental concerns” and the limited numbers of children in need of overseas families in this age group.
ICAB is not able to give an estimate of when this moratorium may be lifted. They have advised that they will resume accepting new applications for children under the age of three once 50% of the existing families currently on the waiting list have been processed.
If you believe you will be affected by this change of criteria, please contact us via email: intercountry@community.nsw.gov.au and let us know when we can contact you to discuss your circumstances.
Baby Bonus and Maternity Immunisation allowance for adoptive parents
There are important changes to some types of families payments that came into effect from 1 January 2009. If you are the parent of an adopted child, there are changes to Baby Bonus and Maternity Immunisation Allowance that you need to be aware of.
For information about these changes and how they may affect you, visit www.centrelink.gov.au
upcoming events
(Events given coverage in this publication do not necessarily represent the view of the Minister or Chief Executive of Community Services. The accuracy or currency of information regarding these events is the responsibility of the individual organisations.)
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Sydney Transracial Adoptee Artist and Panel Event - Saturday 7 November 2009
10am-4pm - Surry Hills.
This event has been postponed due to low numbers of RSVPs. Hopefully it will be run next year. Further information will be given on this website at that time. -
National Adoption Awareness Week is being held from the 16-22 November 2009 in Sydney. For information please see website: www.adoptionawarenessweek.com.au
- See a list of all support organisations and playgroups.
country news
China
The China Center of Adoption Affairs (CCAA) has formally advised Australian Central Authorities of changes to the orphanage donations paid by families adopting children from China.
CCAA has notified the Australian Central Authority that they will no longer operate a separate system for Australian special needs applicants. This change is effective immediately. CCAA have agreed, however, to process all Australian special needs applications already logged in to their system.
After waiting more than 3 years, Family Group 40 received adoption proposals of children needing family placements on 26 August 2009.
Korea
Eastern Social Welfare Society (ESWS) has issued an Australian national quota of 30 applications for 2009. The NSW quota is nine.
This quota must include a minimum of one third of the applications from families approved to adopt children with more complex medical backgrounds. NSW received 11 allocations from Korea in 2007 and 11 in 2008.
The waiting time to travel to Korea remains around four months from allocation. NSW has received nine allocations as of this time in 2009.
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. Once accepted by Ethiopia, applicants will still wait a substantial time until they receive an adoption proposal.
The NSW quota of 20 files in Ethiopia at any one time is full and currently there is a waiting list of over 30 approved families.
When a family receives an allocation, the next application off the waiting list can be sent.
NSW received 13 adoption proposals during 2008. There has been 4 adoption proposals received in 2009 - one of these being a sibling pair.
Philippines
A total of 23 adoption proposals were received in NSW in 2007 and 15 adoption proposals were received in 2008.
There have been 12 adoption proposals so far in 2009.
See 'latest developments' section for most recent news from the Philippines.
Bolivia
In June–July 2008, a delegation from the Attorney-General’s Department (AGD) visited Bolivia to discuss the operation of the Bolivia–Australia intercountry adoption program.
The firm view of the current Bolivian government is that local communities should be able to care for Bolivian children whose birth families are unable to care for them.
Intercountry adoption will be considered as the last option for children who need families. The delegation advised that substantial delays are occurring across most aspects of the intercountry adoption process, including the administrative and judicial procedures.
There has been one adoption proposal from Bolivia in 2009.
Colombia
Three adoption proposals were received in 2008 and 4 in 2009. Families considering lodging an application for Colombia are encouraged to contact the duty caseworker at Adoption and Permanent Care Services and Australian Families for Children for more information.
Taiwan
The Taiwanese adoption agency, Christian Salvation Service (CSS) have a continued need for applications from families who are able to care for children with special needs backgrounds.
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.
Since the beginning of October 2009, CSS has commenced a new policy requiring that both adoptive applicants must hold Australian citizenship before they can be accepted into the program.
Nine allocations were received by NSW in 2008 and 5 in 2009.
NSW has now sent three applications to the Chung Yi Child Welfare Foundation. One adoption proposal has been received and accepted.
Thailand
The Thai Central Adoption Authority issued an Australian quota for 2009 of 40 applications. The quota was divided amongst the States and Territories in accordance with population, with some allowance for smaller jurisdictions.
Two placement proposals were received in 2008. One adoption proposal has been received to date in 2009.
Please note 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. Families, however should be aware that waiting times may not be shorter and are dependent on the number of children needing families.
APCS is aware of the difficult time families are facing with extended waiting times. We will continue to liaise with the ACA regarding further advice received from Thailand about the program.
India
It continues to be difficult to locate agencies in India that are able to accept applications from Australia. Also the current need of the Indian agencies are for families that are able to accept children with a medical condition (correctable or ongoing).
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 and discuss their specific circumstances.
feedback
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