Groundbreaking new research just released from Australian think tank, Women’s Forum Australia, has found that adoption can result in positive outcomes for women, children and families in need.
Adoption Rethink provides a comprehensive analysis of international research on adoption practices with a particular focus on the experiences of birth parents, adoptees and adoptive parents as well as the alternatives to adoption.
It is clear from the findings that the optimal situation for women and their children occurs when children are raised in a safe, loving and stable environment under the care of their birth parents. However, the sad reality is that this is not always possible.
When birth parents are unwilling or unable to parent their children appropriately, too often young, vulnerable children are forced into temporary arrangements such as foster care. There are long-term damaging consequences for these children as they flounder through the foster care system, in some cases for years, while waiting for the courts to resolve their future. The cost to society and governments in caring for these children and mending the traumatic consequences of their situation is enormous.
As a community we need to find viable alternatives.
Louise Brosnan, Chairman of Women’s Forum Australia, says:
“It is almost impossible to overstate the importance of timely, effective action in resolving the situation of children in need. No more so than in the case of children in long term foster care. As the most vulnerable member of the triad the needs of the child must receive first priority with a sense of urgency encouraged in the establishment of permanent care arrangements. Adoption provides something that other care arrangements cannot, the sense of permanence and belonging, firm attachments and the feeling of stability.”
Far from suggesting that adoption is an outdated and unworkable institution, Adoption Rethink highlights the fact that access to adoption, facilitated in an open, respectful and regulated way continues to have tremendous potential benefit for women, children and families in need.
The research shows that an open adoption process with ongoing contact can produce positive outcomes for birth parents as well as children.
For media enquiries contact Women’s Forum Australia:
Helena Adeloju
+61 413 300 598
