Adoption in Australia aims to provide a nurturing, safe, and permanent family for children and young people. Adoption is seen as a service for the child or young person, and decisions about an adoption are to be made with their best interests—both in childhood and later life—as the primary consideration.

To help inform adoption policy and practice in Australia, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) releases an annual report documenting trends in the use of adoption to meet the needs of children and young people.

Key findings:

• 310 adoptions were finalised in Australia in 2018–19, of which 82% were of Australian children and 18% were inter-country.
• The majority of adoptions finalised were known child adoptions (211, or 68%) and, of these, 67% (142) were carer (known child) adoptions.
• Overall, there has been a 64% decline in finalised adoptions in Australia in the 25-year period between 1994–95 to 2018–19. However, since the low for the period of 278 adoptions in 2015–16, there has been a rise of 12%.