[waffleking]

Is there anyone here who has ever adopted from Australia and if so, can you give me any good advice on what to look for and what to watch out for?

I know I want to adopt internationally and I think I would like to adopt from Australia. I understand that it's almost the farthest place from here so costs would be expensive but I think it's worth it.

[suzj1]

Hi,

My name is Sue and I live in Brisbane, Australia. My husband and I have a 15-month old son who was adopted from South Korea. We waited 6 years from application to allocation for our little boy.

Just a quick reply to your message. Adoption in Australia is a very long process. The current waiting time to adopt domestically is stated as 17 years, and about 5 years wait to adopt internationally. Also it is not possible to adopt a baby from Australia unless you have residency here.

Sorry if this puts a dampener on your plans, but personally if I had residency in any other country, I would not choose to adopt through the Australian governmental based system.

Regards, Sue.

[petamb]

Hi My name is Peta and I am a Birth Mother and Adoption Advisor from Sydney Australia.

The Wait in NSW is about 5 years if you are successfuly put on the waiting list. Most people do not wait this long and start to look overseas.

As Sue from QLD stated you have to be an Australian Citizen to be able to adopt a Child from Australia.

Please let me know if you need any other information.

[BlueAngelAu]

As far as I know....

The US Has as of yet failed to ratify the bills/laws that will enable adoptions between Australia & America. Until these are ratified Australians cannot adopt from the US & Americans cannot adopt from Australia.

Asides from this - There aren't very many countrys that allow international adoptions of their own children, Australia is one of these.

We have a lot of children in foster care, but the main goal is to reunite these children with their families. Adoption is very hard here, and the most you might get is permanant placment - IF Your an Australian Citezen.

As for infants.... I've been in contact with the department of human services adoption department out of curiousity.... they say they only get less than 80 infants a year, and that rate is steadily going lower and lower each and every year. There are hundreds, probably thousands of suitable australian adoptive parents yearning for a baby.... why would they even consider sending Australian children overseas?? We're as far as I know it a fairly rich and great nation.

If your talking about older children - think, even if they agreed to it..... don't you think it would be traumatic to take a child from their native country at an older age when that native country has sufficiantly provided for them and their not in any sort of poverty ? When there are Australian parents waiting for children?

On another note : Would Americans allow Australians to adopt THEIR Children????? The swing swings both ways.

Blue Angel.

[qldgirl]

Sue,

Is that 17 years for domestic adoption, wow.

[Jurol]

Adoptions in Qld have been slower than in other states for several years. We have friends who moved interstate and completed the adoption of their Ethiopian children and had their file back in Ethiopia for another child before their friends in Qld had managed to get their first application over. We have adopted 6 children from overseas and each adoption application for us took around 3 years from start to meeting our child.

While it is possible to average out the waiting time for domestic adoption in Australia, that doesn't really tell you much. There are no private adoptions, so local adoption only occurs when a family is selected as the most suitable family by the govt. adoption authorities. In my state we have had local adoption applicants who have had an infant placed with them after just 2 years wait, while another couple waited 10 years, and some applicants will never complete an adoption.

Julia

[qldgirl]

wow 2 years is real quick for domestic, how did they do that, 10 years is around the number I knew, 17 that is crazy

it seems so wrong when there are so many children waiting and so many parents waiting and AUSTRALIA seems to have the slowest and longest procedures.

I know a number of people in US started the adoption process Aug/Sep and they have their babies already

[Jurol]

Well, once a family is assessed and approved for domestic adoption they are placed in a pool of waiting approved families. Then when a child becomes available for adoption the most suitable family from that pool is selected. Selection is based on suitability, not on waiting time, so that is why the time is so variable. Once you join that pool of approved waiting families you could theoretically be the next one selected or you might never be selected...

Julia

[qldgirl]

that is so sad

[teddy56]

ok hey my brother was born in the usa and someone adopted from aust.

[lynfay]

I'm not actually responding to the topic of adopting a child from Australia. I'm a 51 year old adoptee who only found out about my adoption 7 years ago. I live in Brisbane, and am just so excited to come across some other Queenslanders on this site. Rarely do I see people from here at all - a lot of the sites I visit are either US or Canadian, so I felt very at home when I read these messages. The very best to all of you.

Lynfay

[Teri from Iowa]

Hello all:

I am trying to find a contact person at the Australian Human Services adoption office, does anyone know a name and email address of someone in this office?

I am from America and we adopted a girl, Mitali, from India two years ago. When we picked her up the caretakers at the orphanage told us about Mitali's best friend, Harshada. The two girls had been together since birth, through two cities and two orphanages.

Harshada is now being adopted by an Australian couple that is using the Dept of Human Services Australia. We are trying to locate this couple so we can keep the two girls in touch.

If anyone has information they can share, we would very much appreciate it. Harshada's birthdate is 4-13-98, NOC was given on 11-7-03.

Thanks!
Teri

[Jo31]

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

[Teri from Iowa]

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

Teri

[Jurol]

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