The needs of New South Wales children
There are many children in New South Wales who need permanent stable placements within families. Adoption is one way to meet those needs and provide enduring relationships in cases where the courts have determined that returning the child to the care of parents or other relatives is inappropriate. Adoption may also be a voluntary process, requested for children whose parents feel they lack the capacity or means to raise their child.
There is a community responsibility to children to offer them an opportunity for a safe and nurturing upbringing. All sorts of families can provide adoption or permanent care for a child or children. Single people, married or de-facto heterosexual couples and same-sex couples can all be considered. They need to support openness and help the child to know their background and identity. The importance of good preparation and training for prospective carers can’t be underestimated.
Openness in adoption
There have been many changes in adoption practices in New South Wales since the 1990 adoption legislation. Children who are adopted now grow up knowing about their adoption, and have access to information about their family (birth). They generally have contact either face-to-face or in other ways with family members, including parents, siblings and extended family. This is what we now know as open adoption.
For those separated by adoption during the period of closed adoption when records were sealed openness means that parents (birth) and adopted people now have access to records and identifying information, offering the opportunity for reunion.
Openness in adoption is practiced because evidence shows that closed adoptions had very negative impacts for many of those involved and because of the belief that children have the right to know of their background and identity
Lifelong impact of adoption
Adoption has a profound and lifelong impact on all those it involves: adopted people, adoptive families and mothers and fathers. Mothers particularly were encouraged to ‘get on with their lives’ and to ‘put the adoption behind them’. These practices failed to acknowledge the unceasing impacts of grief and loss.
While experiences of past adoption are diverse, there are common themes around the painful impact of secrecy, the trauma experienced by many and the sense of difference and lack of belonging felt by some adopted people.
Post adoption support
All parties affected by adoption have the right to funded and specialised post adoption support, particularly in the wake of state and federal government apologies for the injustices that occurred in past adoption practices. Assistance is available also for those searching and seeking reunion.
The impacts of adoption can pervade many areas of an individual’s life. Service providers in a range of areas need to be sensitive to this and be aware of where adoption issues may need to be considered.
For those more recently adopted, support for families (birth and adoptive) is a critical element in producing good outcomes for the children. Consideration should also be given to the specialist services needed, both now and in the future, for children adopted from the care system, and other countries and cultures.