Prime Minister Tony Abbott will release a federal government report on Monday which finds Australians who want to adopt children from overseas face long waiting times and a costly and confused process.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Together with adoption advocate Deborra-Lee Furness, Mr Abbott also announced that Australia has set up an intercountry adoption program with South Africa, as part of his move to make overseas adoptions easier for Australians.
Ms Furness said she hoped that programs would also be established. It is understood the government is considering expanding links with another six or seven countries.
''We're all about children finding families,'' she told Channel Nine's Today program on Monday.
Australia at present has adoption arrangements with more than 10 countries, including Taiwan, Thailand and South Korea.
This comes after premiers and chief ministers agreed at the COAG meeting in Canberra last Friday to set up a national system for overseas adoption, and after Mr Abbott pledged last December to make it ''much, much easier'' for Australian couples to adopt children from overseas.
In his bid to have a new system for intercountry adoption ready by early next year, Mr Abbott has tasked Attorney-General George Brandis and Social Services Minister Kevin Andrews with quickly providing advice about the best way to deliver the national system.
Options could include accrediting an NGO or NGOs to do the operational work, or using a part of the federal bureaucracy.
Mr Abbott has also written to Immigration Minister Scott Morrison, asking him to change the Citizenship Act so that overseas adoptees can obtain Australian citizenship from their countries of origin.
Last year, when the Prime Minister announced he would make intercountry adoption reform a priority, he ordered his department to set up an interdepartmental committee to work on the issue. The committee was asked to report back to the government in March – in time for COAG in April – and include steps that could be taken immediately to streamline overseas adoptions.
At the time of Mr Abbott's December announcement, Australian Intercountry Adoption Network national co-ordinator Ricky Brisson said the Coalition should already know what was needed, as a 2005 government review had already identified problems with the system.
Another overseas adoption expert, Marilyn Nagesh, questioned why Mr Abbott set up a new government group on overseas adoptions when he had disbanded the National Intercountry Adivsory Group when he came into government, as part of a move to rationalise non-statutory bodies.
With Jonathan Swan
