Foster parents and permanent carers have called on the government to speed up legal processes for adoptions in the ACT, as some wait for years for the courts to finalise their new family arrangements.
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One Canberra carer of two children aged younger than five said she had been told she would wait two and a half years for her family's case to be resolved and was frustrated the ACT government had not acted to speed up the process.
The carer, who asked not to be named to protect the privacy of the brother and sister, said finalising adoptions more quickly was in the best interest of children and would help ease pressure on the broader child protection system while also saving ACT taxpayers money.
She praised case workers involved in the ACT system but said she believed criminal cases were blocking resolution for families hoping to move on with their lives.
"The delays don't fit in with the current government strategy and they keep saying to me they're trying to shorten the length of time it takes, which is great, but once you get there you've got a two and a half year wait," she said.
"Everyone is cagey; they won't give me answers ... it's just wait for the court date. It's not just my case; there are lots of people in similar situations. We need system change for kids waiting for adoption."
Territory adoption rates are more than double national figures, at 8.3 per 100,000 children.
"These delays means childhoods and lives aren't being normalised," the carer said. "This is years of not having their names changed, people continuing to have to check on them – making them system kids, a term I really dislike."
The comments came as ACT opposition family and community services spokeswoman Nicole Lawder called on the government to make adoptions easier in the Assembly on Wednesday.
She said only 17 adoptions had been completed in the territory in 2013-14, of which just seven were local adoptions.
"Because of the backlog of civil cases in the courts, adoption orders are delayed. It's been reported that one family has waited six years for an adoption order to be made," Ms Lawder said.
"The government needs to take immediate action and reduce the backlog of civil cases."
Attorney-General Simon Corbell said there was no bottleneck or backlog for cases. He told the Assembly the average adoption in 2014-15 was completed in 11 weeks.
Children and Young People Minister Mick Gentleman said Canberra's care and protection system focused on providing a permanent home to children and young people as soon as possible. A small number of people had made representations to his office about adoption delays.
"I understand the desire from families to have processes around permanent placements resolved as soon as possible," Mr Gentleman said.
"Where possible we want to keep families together but if this cannot be the case then our aim is to find a new long-term, loving home for the child or young person."
There are two mechanisms for placement of children in the ACT system: adoption and an enduring parental responsibility provision. Changes as part of the government's new out of home care strategy for children will reduce the time required for the process to begin.
"The permanent placement of a child with a new family is a defining moment in that child's life that must be carefully worked through," Mr Gentleman said. "Working through the process to ensure either adoption or [enduring parental responsibility] is in the best interest of the child and sustainable can take time."
