The changing context of adoption

Adoption is a process where adoptive parents legally become the parents of a child who ceases to be the child of his or her existing parents. Legislation differs across Australian States and Territories. Up until the 1970s adoption involved the severance of ties between a child and their birth parents in a ‘closed’ adoption bound by secrecy. The introduction of the Commonwealth Supporting Mother’s Benefit in 1973, and growing demands for information from adopted adults and birth mothers, led to substantial changes in adoption practice. From that time there has been a huge decrease in the numbers of domestic babies available for adoption, in turn heralding an unprecedented demand for intercountry adoption. Looking ahead, it is hard to predict what adoption practice will look like. Intercountry adoption already is less of an option for Australian families seeking to adopt due to third world countries making strong efforts to maintain children in their own country. It is possible that Indigenous customary adoption, where a child is never lost to the family of origin, might inform the way for the futur