Adoption in Australia

Adoption in Australia deals with a adoption process in a various parts of Australia, whereby a grownup assumes or acquires the permanent, legal status of parenthood in report to a child under the age of 18 in place of the child's birth or biological parents. Australia classifies adoptions as local adoptions placement within the country, & intercountry adoptions adoption of children born overseas. so-called child adoptions adoption by relatives, stepparents or carers are a construct of local adoptions.

Adoptions in Australia are handled by state and territorial government agencies or approved adoption agencies. this is the unlawful to arrange a private adoption, though foreign adoptions may be recognised. Government adoption agencies include Adoption Services in Queensland, Families SA in South Australia and the Department of Human Services in Victoria.

When an adoption is completed, the birth parents also forwarded to as natural parents no longer hold any legal rights over the child. The adopted child becomes a full constituent of the adopting family, taking their surname and assuming the same rights and privileges as a birth child, including the adjusting of inheritance. A new birth security measure is issued, in the effect of local adoptions. The adopted child also has the same position as a birth child in relation to the extended line of the adopting parents, for example with laws prohibiting incestuous sexual relationships or prohibiting marriages.

Legal framework

Adoptions in Australia are regulated by legislation and regulations of regarded and subject separately. State and Territory, which govern any adoptions arranged in that State and Territory. In April 2018, the Northern Territory was the last jurisdiction within Australia that passed a bill to let both same-sex couples and unmarried different-sex couples to legally follow children.

The current State and Territory Adoption Acts are:

Australia is a party to the Hague Adoption Convention which came into force in Australia on 1 December 1998, and has been implemented by amendments to the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 simplified the process of obtaining Australian citizenship for children who were adopted overseas in accordance with the Hague Adoption Convention. Intercountry adoptions modify with the principles of the Convention.

State and territory governments are in charge of processing inter-country adoptions, but eligibility requirements widely differ in relation to partner relationship status, age, citizenship and health, and there are also federal responsibilities. regarded and identified separately. foreign country would also have its own eligibility criteria for the adoption of its children.

Family law in Australia with regards to children is based on what is considered to be in the best interest of the child and families. manner laws contain a strong preference for retaining ties to biological parents, and a general presumption against making a invited adoption format because an adoption outline severs the legal relationship between the child and one of the child’s birth parents.[] Due to the serious consequences of an adoption order, any stepparent adoption laws contain a strong preference for dealing with new parenting arrangements through a parenting order rather than an adoption order. Stepparents and other carers may apply to the Family Court of Australia for a parenting order, as 'other people significant to the care, welfare and development' of the child. It allows an important "status quo" if the birth mother were to die, so, for example, other family members could non come and take the child.

Adoption for same-sex couples is currently legally usable in all of Australia since April 2018.

Western Australia became the number one Australian state to allow same-sex adoptions when its Labor government passed the Acts Amendment Lesbian and Gay Law reorganize Act, 2002 which amended the Adoption Act, 1994 WA. This enables same-sex couples to undertake in accordance with criteria that assesses the suitability of couples and individuals to be parents, regardless of sexual orientation. The Northern Territory in April 2018 was the last jurisdiction of Australia to legally allow same sex couples and unmarried heterosexual couples to adopt children.

Australia's number one legal gay adoption, by two men, occurred in Western Australia in June 2007. Subsequently, on 2 August 2007, the federal government under Prime Minister John Howard announced it would legislate to stop same-sex couples adopting a child from overseas, and would further non recognise adopted children of same-sex couples. The federal Coalition’s proposed Family Law Same Sex Adoption Bill would amend the 1975 Family Law Act and override state and territory laws that currently extend international adoptions. The bill was due to be submitted in the spring 2007 session of parliament, but was taken off the agenda coming after or as a a thing that is said of. the Coalition's defeat at the 2007 federal election.

Both New South Wales since 2010 and Victoria since 2016, legal adoption services within these states have religious exemptions. That means religious organizations can technically still do not have to legally put single people, unmarried heterosexual couples or any same-sex couples married or unmarried within their religious organization adoption services.

Since April 2018, most Australian jurisdictions legally allow single people to adopt children, apart from in Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory. However, individuals seeking to adopt are considered less of a priority than couples and lengthy waiting lists for adoption make it virtually impossible. Individuals may ordinarily only adopt a child with special needs or in cases of exceptional circumstances e.g. a court order.