• Children and Families, Superseded 05/06/2023

The Adoptions data set specification (DSS) describes data collected from state/territory departments responsible for adoptions for the Adoptions Australia Collection.

Adoption is the legal process by which a person legally becomes a child of the adoptive parent(s) and legally ceases to be a child of his/her existing parent(s). Adopted children are normally aged 18 years and under; however, some known child adoptions, such as adoptions by step-parents, can involve adoptees over 18.

The Adoptions Australia Collection contains data relating to two populations of children, those subject to:

• Finalisations- children who were the subject of a finalised adoption order during the reporting period. This includes orders that were made in Australia and in the case of some intercountry adoptions, where the full adoption order was made in the country of origin.
• Placements- children, regardless of the status of their adoption order, who were placed with their adoptive family during the reporting period. 'Placed with their adoptive families' refers to when the child enters Australia for intercountry adoptions, or when the child is taken into the care of the prospective adoptive parent(s) for local adoptions.

The DSS excludes expatriate adoptions by Australian citizens or permanent residents who have lived overseas for 12 months or more and have adopted a child through an overseas agency or government authority. Australian adoption authorities are not responsible for expatriate adoptions and do not assess or approve applicants for such adoptions.

Adoption categories

Intercountry adoption—Intercountry adoptions are adoptions of children from countries other than Australia, who are legally able to be placed for adoption, but who generally have had no previous contact or relationship with the adoptive parents. There are four categories of intercountry adoptions, divided into two groups.

Program adoptions — an intercountry adoptions through an official Australian intercountry adoption program that was active at the time the file of the applicant(s) was sent.
Theses adoptions can be a:

• Hague adoption — an intercountry adoption where Australia had an official adoption program open with the adoptive child's country of origin and the adoptive child’s country of origin has ratified or acceded to the Hague Convention, and the file of the applicant(s) was sent after the Hague Convention entered into force in that country
• Bilateral adoption — an intercountry adoption where Australia had an official adoption program open with the adoptive child’s country of origin at the time the file of the applicant(s) was sent.

Non-program adoptions — an intercountry adoption that was not through an Australian intercountry adoption program that was active at the time the file of the applicant(s) was sent.
These adoptions can be a:

• Known child intercountry adoption — an adoption where the child and the applicant had a pre-existing relationship prior to the adoption that allowed the adoption to occur. Without this relationship, the child would not generally be able to be adopted by the applicant through an intercountry adoption process.
• Ad-hoc adoption — an adoption from a country with which Australia did not have an existing intercountry adoption program at the time the file of the applicant(s) was sent.

Local adoption—an adoption of a child or children who were born or permanently lived in Australia before the adoption, who are legally able to be placed for adoption, but who generally have had no previous contact or relationship with the adoptive parents.

Known adoption—an adoption of a child/children who were born or permanently lived in Australia before the adoption, who have a pre-existing relationship with the adoptive parent(s) and who are generally not able to be adopted by anyone other than the adoptive parent(s). Known child adoptions include adoptions by step-parents, relatives, carers and others. Intercountry known adoptions are not included in this category of adoption.

Hague/bilateral adoptions

An adopted child's country of origin is categorised as either a 'Hague' or a 'bilateral' country. A Hague country is where the adoptive child's country of origin has ratified or acceded to the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, and the applicant(s) file was sent to that country after the Convention entered into force in that country. By ratifying or acceding to the Hague Convention a country is legally bound to apply the Convention.

In some cases, the categorisation of a country as either 'Hague' or 'bilateral' may vary at different stages of the overseas adoption process (for example, a country may have signed but not yet ratified or acceded to the Hague Convention when an applicant's file is sent to that country, but by the time the adopted child enters Australia and is placed with their adoptive parent(s), the country may have ratified or acceded to the Convention and the Convention has come into force). By signing the Hague Convention a country expresses, in principle, its intention to become a party to the Convention. However, signature does not, in any way, oblige a country to take further action (towards ratification or not). A country is party to the Hague Convention if it has ratified or acceded to the Convention - this involves the legal obligation for the country to apply the Convention.

The list of 'Hague' countries, (i.e., countries that ratified or acceded to the Hague Convention) can be found on the HCCH website here. The date listed for when the Convention came into effect can be used to determine which countries had ratified the Convention before the end of the reporting period for the Adoptions DSS.

For local and intercountry adoptions, children are generally placed with their adoptive families before their adoption order is finalised; however, for some intercountry adoptions where a finalised adoption order recognised by Australian authorities was issued by the country of origin, placement may occur after the adoption order is finalised. Some children placed for adoption during the reporting period may not have their adoption finalised until a following year. In addition, some adoption orders finalised in the reporting period may relate to children who were placed in previous years.

Glossary items

Glossary terms that are relevant to this data set are included here.

Ad-hoc adoption

Adoption

Adoptive parent

Applicant

Bilateral adoption

Country of origin

Expatriate adoption

Family

Finalised adoption

Hague adoption

Hague Convention

Intercountry adoption

Known child adoption

Known child intercountry adoption

Local adoption

Non-Hague adoption

Placement

Step-parent