Adoption in Australia?

[LurkingAndLearningLovesCats]

Hey, can anyone give me any information? I looked up centacare but I'd like more info, such as having Depression and severe Anxiety plus infertility issues puts me off the list?

Any Aussie's with experience adopting? I want to start looking into this now and be very prepared for when I turn 25.

I had assumed you were a Brit, are you an Aussie then?

I don't know about the legal requirements there, but I'm sure someone will know something :)

Yep, true blue here!

I can only find legislation and vague guidelines, not answer to my specific questions like mental health issues, infertility and cost. (I heard it only costs $4000 but that seems off )

I guess you just have to phone whichever government agency deals with adoptions in your region? Each region has different requirements - for instance a gay couple can adopt in New South Wales, but not in Queensland (or so Wikipedia says...).

It might be like Britain where MH difficulties don't rule you out, but it gets discussed during homestudy

And then if you want to adopt internationally, you need to comply with whatever restictions the childs country has in place. Those are usually quite easy to find

Thank you :) I couldn't phone up I don't think as I'm only 20, under the age limit but worth a shot!

I'm in Victoria so I tried to look up the MH regulations but couldn't find any, and Centacare was rather vague.

I'm the worst googler of all time, but I think I'll try and see if there is an Aussie adoption forum I can snoop on.

I always wanted a Chinese girl (age irrelevant) since I was 10 and learn of gendercide :( I think they definitely WOULD rule me out unfortunately.

Thanks! :)

These are the rules for SA - I know they're not directly applicable to Vic but they're likely to be similar.

There is a link to the fees page as well.

It's a starting point - might be able to find your way around to see whether or not your MH issues will disqualify you.

Victoria info - with a bunch of contact phone numbers.

Thank you Thumbwitch! I'd already red the first link but the second link s very helpful.

I guess I'm very concerned I will be ruled out because of my past childhood sexual abuse and the fact I take AD and anti anxiety medication.

'Luckily' (ironic ehh?) because I'm infertile if I do make it through, I can actually be bumped up the list.

Okay done research on inter-country and domestic adoption. Basically, I'd be waiting ten years and all overseas agencies won't adopt to me because I have depression/anxiety.

:( I always wanted to adopt a child/ren over birth children....Guess it's clomid and IVF for me in the future. :(

Also apparently Australia has some of the worst adoption rates because SS don't take away enough abused children...How sad is that?

We did Australia adoption a few years ago, but did look at international. Am in the ACT so not everything will be the same.
Because an international adoption is not a service to an Australian baby all administrative cost are paid for by the adoptive parents. The $4000 your have seen would most likely be the initial cost to go through the assessment process here in Oz, once successful your file is sent to China (or other country that has signed the Haigh convention) and you go on their waiting lists.
Each country has it's own requirements as to who is suitable to be allowed to adopt one of their children, you should be able to get that information quite easily. For example some countries require you to be a particular religion, others you need to have been married a certain amount of time.
You own personal history will be assessed during the initial stage of the process, sometime they tell you straight away that there is a cut and dried reason why you are not suitable, otherwise you may go through the entire assessment process, and if your past is dealt with and you are functional and well then that may be considered ok, or they may decide that your past has an impact on your ability to parent a child. They can only answer that after assessments of course, as we are all different.
The countries the children come from also have a "donation" that is paid (in the thousands) plus you need to be able to travel to the country and stay there for a significant amount of time ( i think is is up to around 2 months)

I really wanted to adopt from China, but cut and dry I won't be eligible. Philippines was next choice, again not eligible.

I'm in Victoria and it seems fairly hopeless unless I do Permanent Care/Fostering which confuses me. Can anyone elaborate on that?

I would love to give a child with a horrible past like mine a new chance at life. Which is why I'm looking now, so when the time comes I'm totally prepared but I admit I feel hopeless, domestic adoption seems impossible.

It's very difficult to adopt from China now (i work with a number of NGO's in the region). There just aren't the number of children available that there were 10-20 years ago when The Dying Rooms/ Death by Default were published (which is a good thing). There are far fewer children being abandoned in the first place, plus long term fostering is much more established, meaning that far fewer children spend their lives in institutions, so unless you are prepared to accept a child with quite significant special needs, it's very very difficult.

Adoption is quite rare in Australia as I understand it. It is very highly regulated and there are very few children available for adoption domestically.

I guess Permanent Care is my option...I just don't really understand the concept.

Wish I was famous so I could adopt even though I'd be on all sorts of drugs...

It's not that they don't take the children away as such; it's more that the parents don't/won't sign over the rights to the children so there are loads in long term foster care but comparatively few adopted. While I don't particularly agree with forcible removal of children, I do think there are cases when it is applicable (in fact I know someone locally where this is the case) - but here in Australia it can't be done.

The bloody baby bonus hasn't helped matter either..Thanks a lot Howard.

Can someone explain permanent care in a simplistic way? (This is my first real delve into the topic) Like can you permanently care for a child under 5? etc

Permanent foster care appears, from the people I know who do it, to be pretty much the same as open adoption in all but name.
The parent(s) can't ever take back care of their child for whatever reason, but as they haven't signed over parental rights, the child can't be adopted. However, the courts put in place the care orders and so on. One lady I know has fostered several children from baby through to 18; another is bringing up 2 of her grandchildren because the children's mother is a drug addict and cannot be allowed to care for them - however, she still has court ordered access (2h a week, iirc).

What I don't know is whether or not the permanent care order could be revoked under any circumstance - but then, you have several more years before this can happen for you so plenty of time to find out, and tbh it could all have changed by the time you become eligible to become a foster/adoptive parent.

Seems odd to have the permanent care but refusal to adopt..Why not just change it to open adoption?

It's all in the parental rights, isn't it. They can't be forced to sign over their children and until they do, adoption can't take place.

Well IMO children with issues such as attachment disorders should lose their rights instantly.

Yes permanent care can be revoked. The other big difference between permanent care and adoption, is that the administering department will always be the parent even if they then delegate it to you. That means annual reviews, permission to apply for passports and permission for private schools and medical procedures are needed.
There are good and bad things about it.

This is very difficult to process, the idea I may never adopt :(

Lurking The thing is that you are still really young. I would just try to concentrate on enjoying your early twenties and revisit the whole parenthood thing a few years down the line. It may be that by the time you're legally able to adopt, things have changed for you in terms of your mental health and you're in a much stronger position. Also, your relationship status at that time is likely to be a factor- you mention the possibility of clomid/IVF, so I'm reading that as you being not completely unable to have your own children, but that it would be difficult for you to conceive naturally. Maybe you would decide to take that route after all.

What I'd say is please dont let this put a massive downer on your life at the current time, as things might look really very different in 5 years time.

There is a child is dd's class (Melbourne) who is adopted. Her Mothers are lesbians. They have another adopted dd and have had a little boy too from when he was a babe in arms for the last couple of years.

I know she was fostered first as they had a little party when she was adopted and she was talking about it at school, but I don't know about the legal side of things at all.

I have two adopted young cousins, I may ask my cousin how she managed to adopt her two little boys. I just don't wanna be rude.