The number of intercountry adoptions has tripled over the last
25 years, and now accounts for three-quarters of all adoptions,
according to a report released today by the Australian Institute of
Health and Welfare (AIHW).
The latest edition of Adoptions Australia 2005-06, the
sixteenth report in the series, shows that despite the overall
decline in adoptions over the last three decades (a 17-fold
decrease since the 1970s), numbers of adoptions over the last nine
years have remained relatively stable.
'The decline over the longer term can be attributed to the fall
in the number of adoptions of Australian children and reflects the
number of Australian children who are available for adoption, while
the stability over the last nine years can be directly attributed
to the rapid increase in overseas adoptions,' said Ms Sushma Mathur
of the AIHW's Children Youth and Families Unit.
According to the report, a range of medical, social and
legislative factors have contributed to these trends, including the
availability of more effective birth control, the emergence of
family planning centres and sex education classes, and changes in
individual preferences and social trends with regards to raising
children.
In 2005-06 there were 576 adoptions in Australia, and 421 of
those (73%) were intercountry adoptions. Most children adopted from
overseas were born in China (28%), South Korea (24%) and Ethiopia
(17%).
There were 155 adoptions of Australian children in 2005-06. Of
these, 60 were local (no previous relationship with the adoptive
parents) and 95 were known child adoptions (adoptions by
step-parents, relatives or carers). The great majority of the known
adoptions (73%) were by step-parents.
In both local and intercountry adoptions, nearly all children
(91%) were younger than five years old, and more than half of these
were infants aged less than one year.
Children in local adoptions tended to be younger than those
adopted from overseas, while for known child adoptions, most (71%)
were aged 10 years and over.
The vast majority of adoptive mothers and fathers in both local
and intercountry adoptions were 35 years and older with 52% of
adoptive mothers and 60% of adoptive fathers being 40 or over.
Parents adopting from overseas tended to be older than those
adopting Australian children.
Around half of the children in local and intercountry adoptions
were adopted into families with no other children.
12 December 2006
Further information: Ms Sushma Mathur, AIHW
tel. 02 6244 1067, mob. 0418 271 395
For media copies of the report: Publications
Officer, AIHW, tel. 61 2 6244 1032.
Availability: Check the AIHW Publications
Catalogue for availability of the Adoptions Australia
2005-06 report.