Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T03:52:45.518Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Establishing Adoption as a Route Out of Care in New South Wales: A Commentary

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2016

Frank Ainsworth  and
Patricia Hansen
Frank Ainsworth*
Affiliation:
School of Social Work and Community Welfare, James Cook University, Townsville campus, Queensland 4811, Australia
Patricia Hansen
Affiliation:
Hansen Legal, Parramatta, NSW, 2150, Australia Australian Catholic University, Sydney, New South Wales, 2135, Australia
*
addresses for correspondence: Dr Frank Ainsworth, Senior Principal Research Fellow (Adjunct), School of Social Work and Community Welfare, James Cook University, Townsville campus, Queensland 4811. E-mail: frankainsworth@hotmail.com.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Over the last 25 years (1990–2015), the number of adoptions of children (and young persons) in Australia declined from 1,142 to 292 (25.5 %). Of the 292 adoptions that took place in 2014–15, 83 (28%) were inter country adoptions, with the remaining 209 (72 %) adoptions of Australian children. Very few of the adoptions of Australian children were in New South Wales. In amendments in 2014 to the New South Wales Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 and the Adoptions Act 2000, a new emphasis on ‘open’ adoption was introduced. The focus of these amendments is on adoption of children who are in foster care where the New South Wales Children's Court has ruled that there is no realistic possibility of restoration of the child to parental care. This article is about the implementation of this new legislative emphasis on adoption. It does not examine the benefit or otherwise of adoption for children who cannot be safely restored to parental care as this issue has been extensively canvassed elsewhere. This article also highlights the US and English experience of adoption from care in order to place the New South Wales development in perspective. The article concludes with discussion of the issues adoption raises for the parents of a child who is being considered for adoption from care.

Keywords

legislative amendmentsadoptionadoption from careissues for parents
Type
Commentaries
Information
Children Australia , Volume 41 , Special Issue 3: CARING FOR CHILDREN OUTSIDE THE HOME – FROM INSTITUTIONS TO NATIONS , September 2016 , pp. 232 - 236
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2016 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References

Ainsworth, F., & Hansen, P. (2014). Family foster care: Can it survive the evidence? Children Australia, 39 (2), 87–92.Google Scholar
Ainsworth, F., & Hansen, P. (2015). Therapeutic residential care: Different population, different purpose, different costs. Children Australia, 39 (4), 342–347.Google Scholar
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2015a). Adoptions Australia 2014-2015. Canberra.Google Scholar
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2015b). Child protection Australia 2013-2014. Canberra.Google Scholar
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2015c). Alcohol and other drug treatment services 2014-2015. Canberra.Google Scholar
Burgheim, T. (2005). The grief of families whose children have been removed. Implications for workers in out-of-home care. Developing Practice, 13, 57–61.Google Scholar
Commonwealth of Australia, Senate inquiry (2012). Commonwealth contribution to former forced adoption policies and practices. Canberra.Google Scholar
Cox, E., Moggach, L., & Smith, T. (2007). Participation and decision making in older age adoption. Developing Practice, 19, 16–24.Google Scholar
Department of Education (2013). Statistics first release. Document SFR 34/2015. Retrieved from http://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/department-for-education/series/statistics-looked-after-children.Google Scholar
Goldstein, J., Freud, A., & Solnit, A. J. (1973). Beyond the best interests of the child. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (1997). Bringing them home: Report of the national inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. Sydney.Google Scholar
Neil, E., Beek, M., & Ward, E. (2013). Contact after adoption: A follow up in late adolescence. Centre for research on children & families. Norwich: University of East Anglia.Google Scholar
NSW Legislative Council Standing Committee on Social Issues (2000). Releasing the past: Adoption practices. 1950–1998.Google Scholar
Sammut, J. (2015). The madness of Australian child protection. Why adoption will rescue Australia's underclass of children. Ballarat: Connor Court Publishing.Google Scholar
Schofield, G., Moldestad, B., Hojer, I., Ward, E., Skilbred, D., Young, J., & Havik, T. (2010). Managing loss and threatened identity: Experiences of parents of children growing up in foster care, the perceptions of their social workers and implications for practice. British Journal of Social Work, 40 (5), 1–19.Google Scholar
US Children's Bureau (2015). The AFCARS report FY 2014 data. Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://www.acf.hhs.gov/progtams/cb.Google Scholar
White, S., Morris, K., Featherstone, B., Brandon, M., & Thoburn, J. (2014). Re-imagining early help: Looking forward, looking back. In Blyth, M. (Ed.), Moving on from Monroe: Improving children's services. Bristol: Policy Press, 73–88.Google Scholar
NSW Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998.Google Scholar
NSW Child Protection Legislative Amendment Bill 2014.Google Scholar
NSW Adoptions Act 2000 Google Scholar
NSW Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998.Google Scholar
NSW Child Protection Legislative Amendment Bill 2014.Google Scholar
NSW Adoptions Act 2000 Google Scholar