Adoption process | Adoption hearings | Children from overseas and Australia
The adoption process is governed by the Adoption Act, 1988 and adoption hearings are conducted by the Youth Court under this Act. The Minister for Human Services and the Chief Executive of the Department for Human Service are given responsibilities under the Act. Unless the Youth Court directs otherwise, notice of all adoption applications must be given to the Chief Executive of the Department for Human Services. The Chief Executive has power to intervene in applications and can also apply on behalf of people wishing to adopt a child under the Department’s care or in relation to adoption of children from overseas.
In adoption applications, the welfare and interests of the child are considered as paramount. Adoption may only occur in the cases of children up to the age of 18 years.
Families SA, Adoption Services Division, lodges applications with the Youth Court on behalf of applicants for the adoption of children from both overseas and Australia. Prior to the application being lodged, the Department will have already interviewed the applicants, and prepared a report for the court. All applications lodged will contain a report recommending that the adoption proceed, so the court hearing is normally the final legal step in granting the adoption.
Adoption orders are made by the Youth Court. It is usual practice for a magistrate together with two justices of the peace to hear adoption applications. Applications are heard in a closed court and the applicants and the child to be adopted must appear in court. Any record of court adoption proceedings is not open to inspection unless authorised by the court. Once adopted, the child becomes the child of the adoptive parents and they become the parents of that child.
Children from overseas and Australia
Adoption of children from overseas is dealt with under the Inter Country Adoption Program which is governed by the Adoption Act. Only applicants whose names are on the Prospective Adopters Register can bring a child into Australia for adoption. They must also meet the minimum requirements of the country they wish to adopt from. Where the adopted child is from overseas, the applicants will usually have had the child living with them for a reasonable period of time, to ensure that the child can settle into his or her new environment.
If the adopted child is from Australia, it is often the case that one of the applicants is the child’s natural mother or father. These may be cases where the child’s natural parents have either divorced, or one parent has died, and the other has remarried. In other cases, where the child is given up at an early age for adoption, the natural parents are not usually known to the adoption applicants.
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