Adoption rates plummet to a three decade low

By Dr. Ananya Mandal, MDDec 14 2010

Adoption rates in Australia have touched an all time low since 1970’s. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare revealed that in the last financial year there were just 412 adoptions. That is compared with a peak of more than 8,000 adoptions a year in the early 1970s.

Tim Beard from the institute feels that the main reason is there are fewer Australian children in need of adoption because of the growing acceptance of births out of wedlock, better birth control and increased sex education. He pointed out that less than half of all adoptions are of children born in Australia, with majority of adoptions from overseas coming from Asian countries. He added, “There’s also other medical reasons like the development of IVF and other reproductive technologies.” He explained, “Fifteen per cent of all adoptions are what we call local, so they’re Australian children who don’t have a pre-existing relationship with their adoptive parents…But then there’s another 31 per cent of adoptions which we call known adoptions – they’re children that have had pre-existing relationships with their adoptive parents, so they might have been a step-parent or another relative or a carer.”

According to AIHW paper Adoptions Australia 2009-10 also, “Declining fertility rates and an increasing acceptance of children born outside registered marriage have decreased the number of children in need of adoption… The availability of more effective birth control and the emergence of family planning centres combined with increased levels of support to lone parents have also contributed to this trend.”

Also there have been changes in adoption systems of China and South Korea which has led to lesser number of adoptions from these countries. Inter-country adoptions now comprise 54 per cent of the total compared with just 10 per cent as recently as 1984-85. More than 80 per cent of inter-country adoptions are from Asia the report said. The Philippines is now the leading country of origin, accounting for 22 per cent of all adoptions. The Federal Government is planning to improve the inter-country adoption system and to modify adoption laws in Australia.