Aggregate data collected annually by financial year, are provided by state and territory departments responsible (note Victoria ceased data provision from the 2023-24 reporting period onwards) for adoptions and by the Department of Home Affairs. Information collected relates to children placed for adoption and those who had an adoption order finalised. Some data are also collected on children whose adoption order was finalised during the previous financial year. Collected data include characteristics of adopted children, their parents and their adoptive families.

Collected associated administrative process data include applications and vetoes for contact and information exchange, type of authority responsible for the adoption, type of consent provided for the adoption, median time for intercountry adoption processes, status of adoption orders at 30 June, and number of adoption specific visas issued. Data are published annually in the AIHW Adoptions Australia report series including online data visualisations, aggregate data tables, and in a topic summary for Australia’s welfare.

Collection details
Variables to support reporting and linkage
  • Age group (if D.O.B. not available) 
  • Sex/gender
  • Indigenous status

Temporal coverage 

from 1/07/1990

Geographical coverage

National and State

Data availability

  • Publications
  • Summary tables published in electronic form 
Client specified tables on request which may be subject to data provider approval (charges apply), Unit records are not available. There are restrictions and limitations governing the availability or use of other data in this holding.

Data scope 

Data relate to children placed with adoptive families during a financial year and those who had an adoption order finalised during a financial year.

Additional data are also collected on adoption specific visas issued during a financial year (these data may relate to adoptions that occurred in previous years).

Methodology 

Admin data

Metadata information

Adoptions Australia 2023–24 data set specifications

Adoptions DSS 2023-24 data quality statement
(METEOR 803809)

Adoptions Australia 2023-24 data quality statement 
(METEOR 803446)

External links and information 

Adoptions Overview

Adoptions Reports 

Contact

[email protected]

*Data collection with restricted access