In thinking about adoption as a point of reference for an article on privacy and the Senate Donor Conception report I have been rereading the stats on practice in Australia. What's striking for a non-specialist - or perhaps just for a naive reader - is how few adoptions there are in Australia.
Last decade I noted that the Adoptions Australia 2002-03 report from the Australian Institute of Health & Welfare indicated that there were 472 adoptions of children in Australia during 2002-03. Around 3,740 requests for information were made, of which 73% were by adopted children, 17% by birth parents and 2% by a child of an adopted person. Some 137 contact and identifying information vetoes were lodged during the year, with 9,930 vetoes in place (of which 53% were by an adopted person and 38% by the birth mother).
The latest statistics, in the Adoptions Australia 2009-10 report, suggests that there were a mere 412 adoptions in Australia during the period. (The Senate Donor Conception report suggests that there may have been around 600 births involving donor conception in the same year.)
In the same year there were 2,903 information applications (85% for identifying information and 15% for non-identifying information), of which 72% were made by the adopted person, 14% were made by the birth parents and 9% by other birth relatives. 82% of adopted persons seeking identifying information were aged 35 years and over.
In 2009–10, intercountry adoptions represented 54% of all adoptions, compared with 10% of adoptions in 1984–85. The Philippines (22%) has now overtaken both China (14%) and South Korea (14%) as the most common country of origin. Outside Asia, Ethiopia was the most common country of origin, accounting for 15% of intercountry adoptions. 15% of adoptions were local (Australian children) and a further 31% were 'known' child adoptions (adoptions of Australian children who have a pre-existing relationship with the adoptive parent/s, such as step-parents, other relatives, or carers).
65% of adopted children were aged under 5 years. 57% of adoptive parents of children in local and intercountry adoptions were aged 40 years and over. 58% had no other children.
