Adoption in Australia – an overview

collection of adoptions data since the early 1990s. This collection forms part of an agreement with the State and Territory community services departments in which the Institute collects and publishes child protection and adoptions data each financial year. Prior to 1990–91, national data on adoptions were collected by WELSTAT (The Standardisation of Social Welfare Statistics Project) and the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). There were no national data collected in 1985–87. Each year AIHW publishes a national report, Adoptions Australia. This paper is based on data collected between 1968–69 and 1998–99 and examines trends in adoption. Much of this paper is focussed on the period from 1987–88, because better quality data were available. It includes information about the characteristics of children who are adopted, the birth mothers and from 1998–99, the adoptive parents. From 1992–93, data on contact and information exchange about previous adoptions are also included. For the purpose of the Adoptions Australia collection, adoptions are classified into the following categories. Placement adoptions, separated into both local and intercountry and ‘known ’ child adoptions. Placement adoptions refer to those adoptions where the child and the adoptive parent(s) have had no previous relationship, while ‘known ’ child adoptions refer to adoptions by step-parents, other relatives and carers (see Appendix 1). There are two other types of adoptions that are not covered in this paper because they are not the responsibility of State and Territory community services departments. These are intercountry adoptions by relatives and adoptions where the adoptive parent(s) are Australian residents and have lived overseas for more than 12 months. Information on the latter type of adoption is available from the Department of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs through the allocation of visas. Since 1996–97, there have been 390 of these adoptions