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

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

Featured reports

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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