Adoptions Australia

Adoption aims to provide a nurturing, safe and permanent family for children and young people who are not able to live with their families. It is a process where full parental rights and responsibilities for a child are legally transferred from a child’s parents to their adoptive parent(s).

This release covers the latest data on adoptions of Australian children (domestic adoptions) and children from overseas (intercountry adoptions). Data covers characteristics of adopted children, their parents, and their adoptive families, as well as adoption processes and consent arrangements.

Types of adoption

In 2024–25, 155 adoptions were finalised in Australia. Of these:

• 136 (88%) children were adopted domestically (17 local adoptions, 119 known child adoptions)
  • most known child adoptions were by a carer (64, or 47% of domestic adoptions) or step-parents (52, or 38% of domestic adoptions)
• 19 children (12% of all adoptions) were adopted from overseas – 14 of these children came from countries party to the Hague Convention, while 5 were adopted from countries with a bilateral agreement with Australia (Figure 1).

Adoptions by relatives or other known carers of children from other countries (intercountry known child adoptions) are not included in national counts but are collected by all states and territories. These can be further categorised as either intercountry relative adoptions or intercountry known non-relative adoptions (Intercountry Adoption Australia 2022).

In 2024–25, there was 1 known child intercountry adoption. For definitions of each of these adoption types, see the glossary. For more information on intercountry known child adoptions, see the Intercountry Adoption Australia website.

Adoption numbers have declined

Adoptions have been recorded in Australia since 1968–69. Between 1968–69 to 1971–72, the number of adoptions rose from 6,773 to a peak of 9,798. Compared with 1971–72, the number of adoptions in 2024–25 has fallen by 98% from 9,798 to 155.

Information on whether children were adopted from Australia or overseas has been recorded since 1979–80. Between 1979–80 to 2004–05, the number of overseas adoptions rose from 66 to a peak of 434. Since 2004–05, the number of overseas adoptions has declined by 96% from 434 to 19 in 2024–25. Over the same period, the number of children adopted within Australia has decreased by 10% from 151 to 136.

For more information on key social and policy developments impacting adoption trends see Adoptions in Australia over time.

Who was adopted?

The characteristics of adoptees varies by type of adoption.

Age

In 2024–25:

• Most (16) local adoptees were aged 4 years and under, and of these 6 children were aged under 1 year old.
• Of the 119 known child adoptees, most (88% or 105) were aged 5 years or more.
• Of the 19 intercountry adoptees, all were between the ages of 1 and 9 years old (Figure 2).
• There were 39 adult adoptions. All adults were adopted as part of a known child adoption, and over three-quarters (30) were adopted by a step-parent. For information on the legislation and processes for adopting people aged 18 and over, see Appendix A.

Sibling groups and family composition

Where a child and at least one of their siblings are adopted at the same time into the same family, these are recorded as sibling group adoptions.

In 2024–25:

• For local adoptions, there were no sibling groups adopted.
• For known child adoptions, data on sibling group adoptions are only collected for children adopted by carers. Of the 64 children adopted by a carer, 22 children were adopted as part of 10 sibling groups.
• For intercountry adoptions, 7 children were adopted as part of 3 sibling groups.

Of the 100 children adopted through local, carer (known child) and intercountry adoptions:

• 39 were adopted into families where there were no other children
• 15 were adopted into families with biological children
• 25 were adopted into families with adopted children only.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle (ATSICPP) outlines a hierarchy for placing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander or non-Indigenous relatives or kin, or close geographically to their existing family if this cannot be achieved (SNAICC 2018). The ATSICPP was introduced in 2018, so is not applicable to data collected before then. For more information, see Child protection Australia: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children 2023–24.

In 2024–25:

• 3 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children had adoption orders finalised as part of a local adoption.
• No Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were adopted through a known child adoption.
• Of the 3 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children adopted, 1 involved at least one adoptive parent who identified as Indigenous.

Source: AIHW Unpublished National Adoptions Data Collection

Since 2000–2001:

• 133 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children have been adopted, with 34% adopted by Indigenous Australians, and 66% adopted by other Australians.
• 88 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were adopted through known child adoptions and 45 were adopted through local adoptions.
• 24 local adoptions and 21 known child adoptions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children over this period involved at least one adoptive parent who identified as Indigenous.

There were 21 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children known child adoptions finalised between 2020–21 and 2024–25, compared with 31 known child adoptions finalised between 2015–16 and 2019–20. 

How many children with additional care needs are adopted from overseas?

Additional care needs are defined by the level of resources or support services required by the adoptee and/or their adoptive family to:

• foster healthy development and wellbeing
• support positive family functioning
• prevent adoption disruption.

Data on additional care needs are recorded for intercountry adoptees and are categorised by:

• no additional care needs
• minor additional care needs
• moderate to substantial additional care needs (see glossary).

Of the 21 children who entered Australia from overseas countries (regardless of their adoptions being finalised) in 2023–24: 

• 11 were identified as having no additional care needs when they were matched with their prospective adoptive parent(s).
• 10 had some level of additional care needs
  • 9 were assessed as having minor additional care needs
  • 1 was assessed as having moderate to substantial additional care needs.

These numbers varied when the level of need was reassessed 12 months after the children entered Australia:

• most (14) children were classified as having no additional care needs
• 5 were reported as having minor additional care needs
• 2 were reported as having moderate to substantial additional care needs (Figure 3).

For more information on how level of need is assessed, see the technical notes.

For adopted children who entered Australia from 2018–19 to 2023–24: 

• the number assessed as having moderate to substantial additional care needs at the time the child was matched decreased from 14 to 1
• the number assessed as having minor additional care needs at the time the child was matched peaked at 19 children in 2021–22, before dropping to 9 in 2024–25.

Characteristics of adoptive parent(s)

Data on adoptive parent(s) are collected for local and intercountry adoptions. For known child adoptions, these data are only available for carer (known child) adoptions. Where an adoptive family adopted more than one child, the adoptive parent(s) are counted once for each child.

 For adoptions finalised in 2024–25:

• All (19) adoptive parent(s) in intercountry adoptions, and most (16) in local adoptions were in a registered marriage. 
• Most adoptive parent(s) (44) in carer (known child) adoptions were married, 14 were single.
• Around 8 in 10 (or 93) adoptive parent(s) in carer (known child) adoptions were aged 40 and over, compared with around 7 in 10 (or 26) adoptive parent(s) in intercountry adoptions and nearly 4 in 10 (or 14) adoptive parent(s) in local adoptions.

What are the processes for adoptions?

In Australia, the processes for adopting a child depend on the adoption type and legislation and practices in each individual state or territory. For more information see the technical notes and Appendices A to D.

Consent arrangements

As part of the court process to finalise an adoption order, there may be circumstances where the court finds it appropriate to waive the birth parent(s) consent to the adoption.

In 2024–25:

• consent was provided by both parents for over half (10 of 17) of all local adoptions
• consent from both parents was waived or not required for 54 carer (known child) adoptions (of which there were 64). This includes adoptions of children aged 12 and over where the child can consent to their own adoption. 

Information applications and vetoes

The people involved in a domestic adoption can access or restrict (veto) identifying or contact information.

At 30 June 2025, 7,711 contact vetoes were in place.

In 2024–25:

• 1,666 applications were lodged to access either identifying or non-identifying information. Most (85% or 1,410 applications) were for identifying information applications, and of these, 980 (70%) were lodged by adoptees.
• 1 contact veto was lodged, while no identifying information vetoes were lodged.

For information on the types of applications and vetoes, see the technical notes.

How long do intercountry adoptions take?

For intercountry adoptions, the waiting time is measured from when a prospective adoptive parent is approved to when a child is placed (Figure 4). For further information on the intercountry adoption process, see the technical notes.

In 2024–25:

• the total median length of time from approval of an application to placement of a child was around 4 years. 
• Taiwan had the shortest median waiting time around 3 years, while Thailand and India had the longest of around 4 years.

Alternatives to local, known child and intercountry adoptions

Third-party parental care arrangements

For children and young people in out-of-home care, the importance of achieving permanency and stability is widely recognised. This has been reflected in jurisdictional changes in policy and legislation across Australia (AIHW 2016) that have focused on early planning for permanent placement of children in need, including alternative long-term care arrangements such as: 

• carer (known child) adoption
• care and protection orders that transfer guardianship and custody to carers, known as third-party parental responsibility orders.

In 2023–24 there were 1,125 third-party parental responsibility orders issued across Australia.

For more information on third-party parental care arrangements, see the Permanency outcomes for children in out-of-home care: indicators report.

Visa applications and expatriate adoptions

The Department of Home Affairs provides visa and citizenship application data to the AIHW to report on expatriate and other intercountry adoption practices, such as known child intercountry adoptions. Expatriate adoptions occur outside of the Australian intercountry adoption program and are not included in national counts of overseas adoptions.

In 2024–25, 61 Adoption visas were issued to adopted children of Australians seeking to return to Australia with the child. These include visas for: 

• children adopted by expatriate Australians through an overseas adoption authority
• adoptions arranged and supported by Australian adoption authorities.

Of these 61 visas:

• 21 were from countries that had an open adoption program with Australia
• 6 were from countries with a program that was on hold and/or inactive
• 32 were from countries with no previous program.

Where do I go for more information?

For more information on adoptions, see also: 

• State and territory departments responsible for adoption
• Intercountry Adoption Australia
• Department of Social Services Intercountry adoption.

For more on this topic, see Adoptions.