Overview

Adoption is one of the options used to provide permanent care for children who are unable to live with their families. The adoption process establishes a permanent, legal parent–child relationship between a child and their adoptive parent/s.

More reports and statistics on adoption can be found under Child protection and Children & youth.

Latest findings

Just under half (46%) of Indigenous child adoptions since 1993–94 were by Indigenous Australians All local adoptees were under 5 years old whilst 53% of known child adoptees were aged 10 years or over The proportion of children adopted as part of a sibling group has increased from 9% in 2008–09 to 25% in 2017–18 There were 330 adoptions finalised in Australia in 2017–18—80% of these were adoptions of Australian children All adoptees from local adoptions, and 65% of intercountry adoptees, were under the age of 5 years old The median waiting time for families adopting from overseas in 2017–18 was 35 months In 2017–18, 62% of intercountry adoptions were from bilateral countries, an increase from the previous year (55%) There has been a 57% decline in adoptions since 1993–94 94% of local adoptions in 2017–18 were ‘open’—i.e., all parties allowed a degree of contact or information exchange Of the 233 known child adoptions finalised in Australia, 147 or 63% were by carers, such as foster parents 81% of adoptive parents involved in carer (known child) adoptions were 40 or over, and 37% were 50 years or more. Most adoptees seeking information about a past adoption were 35 years old or over

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Highlights

330 adoptionswere finalised in Australia in 2017–18, an increase of 5% from 2016–17
2 years and 11 monthswas the median processing time for intercountry placements in 2017–18
97%of intercountry adoptees were from Asia
57% decline in the number of adoptions over the past 25 years
63%of all finalised adoptions in 2017–18 were by known carers, such as foster parents
9 Indigenouschildren had adoption orders finalised in Australia in 2017–18
34%of adoptees in 2017–18, were aged under 5