Family Forum / Parenting / Adoption / December 2006

Overseas adoptions TRIPLE: new report

http://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Overseas-adoptions-triple-new-report/2006
/12/12/1165685622851.html

Glenys and Bill Gayfer adopted their first two children from the
Philippines in 1979, long before celebrities like Angelina Jolie and
Madonna raised the profile of overseas adoptions.

In the years since they brought Kate and Michael, now 28, and a third
child David, 22, home to Australia, the number of overseas adoptions
has tripled, new figures show.

An Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report reveals the
number of local babies adopted has plummeted and children born overseas
now account for three-quarters of all Australian adoptions.

The rise is due in part to the process of overseas adoption becoming a
lot more organised and accountable, Mrs Gayfer says.

Adopting children from another country in 1979 was something of a
do-it-yourself affair, with the Gayfers forced to spend
three-and-a-half months in the Philippines to make it happen.

"It was great because I learned a lot about the Philippines, but it was
hard financially and emotionally," Mrs Gayfer said.

"Now there is a set process you go through here and overseas.

"It's been an improvement for everybody involved - birth mothers,
children and adoptive parents."

Mrs Gayfer said some countries including Ethiopia and China allowed
singles to adopt, and single adoption was growing although it still
accounted for only three per cent.

About 95 per cent of adoptions are made by married couples, and the
rest by de factos, the report found.

In 2005-06, 576 babies were adopted in Australia, a two per cent
decrease on the previous year, and 421 of those were from overseas.

"It's not for everybody, but certainly people are more aware there are
children in need of a family who have no alternative," said Mrs Gayfer,
an active member of support group Intercountry Adoption Resource
Network Australia.

Most children adopted from overseas in 2005-06 were born in Asia, in
particular China (28 per cent) and South Korea (24 per cent), while 17
per cent were from Ethiopia.

The sixteenth AIHW Adoptions Australia report shows adoptions fell
markedly from a peak of almost 10,000 in 1971-72 to 764 in 1993-94 as
fewer Australian mothers put their babies up for adoption.

More effective birth control and improved sex education had reduced
unwanted pregnancies, while single motherhood had become more socially
acceptable and single parents offered better financial support,
reducing pressure on unmarried women to give up their children.

But adoptions have remained relatively stable over the past nine years
as overseas adoptions increased, Sushma Mathur from AIHW's Children
Youth and Families Unit said.

Evelyne Schilz-Middleton and her husband Richard, who adopted baby
Juneau Joo Hyeok from Korea four years ago, said there were some
challenges in raising a child who had been adopted from overseas.

"My son looks at me and says, mummy, I've got black hair and you've got
blonde hair," said Ms Schilz-Middleton, who is president of the NSW
adoptive parent group ASIAC.

"They start to ask questions and it's about talking to them from an
early age about the fact they are adopted and sharing a bit of
information about their background."

She said there was a lot of focus on the adoption process taking too
long, and some families did experience difficulties particularly when
the arrangements with a particular country changed overnight.

And celebrities who skipped the normal process - such as Madonna
adopting a baby from Malawi in two weeks - could give overseas adoption
a bad name, she said.

"But it's really someone else from another country entrusting their
children to us, so we need to put that into context," she said.

Kathy