Australian Adoption Statistics 2014-2015.
Adoptions (AIHW) – Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
http://www.aihw.gov.au/adoptions/
The number of children being adopted internationally into Australia continues to decline at an alarming rate. This is not because there are fewer couples wishing to adopt or fewer children available for adoption, as we are often led to believe. The blame lies with the Australian governments prohibitive red-tape and lengthy waiting times.
Adoptions
Adoption is one of a range of options used to provide permanent care for children who are unable to live with their families. It is a legal process where rights and responsibilities are transferred from a child’s parents to their adoptive parents.
The categories of adoption used in national reporting are:
Intercountry adoptions—adoptions of children from countries other than Australia who are legally able to be placed for adoption, but who generally have had no previous contact or relationship with the adoptive parent(s). Expatriate adoptions are not included in the numbers for intercountry adoptions.
Dynamic data display: Intercountry adoptions
Dynamic charts and data for intercountry adoption
Description and notes
Local adoptions—adoptions of children who were born or permanently residing in Australia before the adoption, who are legally able to be placed for adoption, but who generally have had no previous contact or relationship with the adoptive parent(s).
‘Known’ child adoptions—adoptions of children who were born or permanently residing in Australia before the adoption, who have a pre-existing relationship with the adoptive parent(s) and who are generally not able to be adopted by anyone other than the adoptive parent(s). Known child adoptions include adoptions by step-parents, other relatives and carers.
These are the latest figures from Adoptions Australia 2014–15.
Adoptions in Australia, 2014–15
74% decline
in adoptions in Australia in the last 25 years.
1 in 3
adoptions were carer adoptions.
Carer adoptions increased more than four fold in the last decade.
41%
of local adoptees were under 1.
10%
of intercountry adoptees were under 1.
94%
of adoptees who came from overseas were from Asia.
>5 years
was the typical wait time for families who adopted a child from overseas in 2014–15.
This has increased by more than 2 years since 2007–08.
1 in 2
birth mothers of local adoptees were aged under 25.
Almost all (89%) were unmarried.
91%
of local adoptions were ‘open’ (that is, all parties agreed to some contact).
61%
of ‘known’ adoptions were by non-relative carers (such as foster carers), and
34%
of ‘known’ adoptions were by step-parents.
Of the twenty countries listed by the Hague Convention, the statistics show that for 2012-2013, Australia was number eighteen, or third from the bottom of the list. The adoption rate is calculated per 100,000 inhabitants for a country.
