Australian adoption rates drop to mirror evolving views on parenthood

Adoption rates in Australia have taken another dive over the last year as the changing views of parenthood continue to influence people’s decisions to raise their children out of wedlock.

Since the 1970s, when babies born out of wedlock were regularly forced into the adoption system, there has been a steep decline in adoption numbers throughout the country. In fact, between 1994-95 and 2015-16, the number of child adoptions fell from 855 to 278, according to a report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

This number did rise slightly in 2017-18 to 330, however it fell to 310 in 2018-19.

This is a dramatic difference from 50 years ago when adoptions were common. According to the Australian Institute of Family Studies, almost 10,000 children were adopted from 1971-72.

In recent decades however, things have changed and the country has become much more accepting of raising children outside of marriage, along with the increased support for single parents and the effectiveness of birth control.

And even for those children who are placed into the adoption system nowadays, the majority are being adopted by people they already know, due somewhat to the country’s focus on adoptions by known carers.

According to the Adoptions Australia 2018-19 report, 68 per cent of the 310 finalised adoptions over the past year were by foster parents, step-parents and other relatives. Meanwhile, between 2008-09 and 2018-19, adoptions by known carers rose by 306 per cent.

There were just 42 adoptions of Australian children not known to their adoptive parents, known as local adoptions, accounting for 14 per cent of all adoptions in 2018-19. A total of 88 per cent of these adoptions were open, where all parties agreed to some form of contact or information exchange between families.

This is in stark contrast to the 1960s when secrecy provisions were tightened and neither party even knew each other’s names. It wasn’t until the late 1970s when new laws were introduced, giving birth parents and adopted children the right to contact one another.

Sadly for many Australians, especially those forced to give up any kind of contact throughout the ’60s and early ’70s, the effects of the adoption has had many long-term side effects.

While there is limited data recorded on this matter, according to the Australian Institute of Family Studies, many reports of unjust cruel and unlawful behaviours were made towards young, unmarried, pregnant women who gave birth during this period.

This terrible treatment stayed with them throughout their lives, with birth parents facing emotional distress as they tried to connect with their now adult children.

Although there has been a drop in adoption numbers in Australia, there is also still a small proportion of children being adopted from countries outside of Australia through official inter-country adoption programs. Throughout the 2018-19 period there was a further 57 inter-country adoptions (18 per cent).

Almost all of these adoptions were for adoptees from Asian countries, with the most common being South Korea (30 per cent), followed by Taiwan and the Phillipines (26 per cent each).

Meanwhile, a total of 12 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were adopted over the past year, with all of them having a pre-existing relationship with their adoptive parents. This was the highest number of finalised adoptions of Indigenous children in the past 25 years.