The ACT Community Services Directorate received over 40 submissions from individuals and organisations in response to their 2018 discussion paper. These highlighted several overarching themes, including a view that the dispensing with consent provisions should prioritise children’s best interests. Feedback from the submissions is outlined...

This discussion paper aims to assist interested community members to contribute to the ACT Government’s exploration of provisions for dispensing with consent in the domestic adoption process.

Adoptions Australia 2017–18, the 28th report in the series, covers the latest data on adoptions of Australia children and children from overseas, and highlights important trends in the number of adoptions dating back to 1993–94.

All Australian children deserve to feel safe and loved and to have a strong sense of identity and belonging. Unfortunately there are tens of thousands of Australian children in out-of-home care who need a family they can belong to. It is not acceptable that children...

Children are already being removed from Indigenous communities at an unprecedented rate. Indigenous children make up 36.9% of children in out-of-home care in Australia, despite being just 3% of the population.

The current economic, financial and policy climate requires that government services have to deliver significantly better performance at significantly lower cost. This report details innovation and change in regards to Local Government. This requirement extends beyond a dedication to incremental and continuous improvement, characteristic of...

The key focus of the study is to improve knowledge about the extent and effects of past adoption practices, and to strengthen the evidence available to governments to address the current needs of individuals affected by past adoption practices, including information, counselling, search and contact...

There is a growing awareness that all children need stable homes and families to thrive. This has led to policymakers facing mounting calls from adoption advocates to increase the number of ‘open adoptions’ from out of care in Australia.

After a long-term downward trend, adoption numbers are rising, particularly for children who are already known to their adoptive parents, according to this report.

Attempting to keep and reunite children with even highly dysfunctional parents at almost all costs has swung the pendulum of child protection systems too far in favour of defending parental rights at the expense of protecting children’s rights and best interests.