The Abbott government can provide national leadership and take adoption out of the ‘too-hard’ basket by setting national child protection performance targets, argues this report, including by boosting the number of local adoptions from care to the equivalent of more adoption-friendly countries within the next 10 years.

This report contains comprehensive information on adoptions in Australia, including the characteristics of adopted children, adoptive families and birth mothers. Summary Australian adoptions increased while intercountry adoptions declined The number of finalised adoptions in Australia increased slightly to 339 in 2012-13, up from the previous year's all-time low of 333. Compared with 2011-12, the number...

In November 2012, the Minister for Family and Community Services, Pru Goward MP, released a discussion paper containing child protection legislative reform proposals. The reform proposals are in three parts: (1) promoting good parenting; (2) providing a safe and stable home for children and young people in care; (3) and creating a child-centred system. This...

In February 2012, a report by the Senate Community Affairs References Committee recommended that the federal parliament issue a formal statement of apology for the role the Commonwealth played in the routine adoption of the babies of unwed (mostly teenage) mothers by childless married couples between the 1950s and mid-1970s. The Gillard government subsequently announced...

This report contains comprehensive information relating to adoptions in Australia, including characteristics of adopted children, adoptive families and birth mothers. Key findings: Falling intercountry adoption numbers contribute to overall decline The 333 finalised adoptions in 2011-12 was the lowest annual number on record-a 13% fall from the previous year's low of 384 and a 78%...