Messy bureaucracy, a revolving door of under-resourced caseworkers and two years later, Bernadette Blenkiron was finally able to adopt the siblings already in her care.
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"Given the clarity here it could've gone through in weeks had there not been changes in staff and people not trained well in these issues," the adoption advocate said.
"It was the constant frustration of chase and chase and chase."
The Canberra Liberals have made a $1.16 million pledge to help people in Ms Blenkiron's position by speeding up local adoptions.
The funds would include $150,000 for an independent review of the ACT adoption process, more than $700,000 for additional caseworkers and more than $300,000 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander support workers.
Brindabella Liberal MLA Nicole Lawder, who has campaigned on the issue, said it was not good enough that families wishing to adopt within the ACT were sometimes left waiting several years.
"Through a review of blockages in the system, supporting vulnerable families, more case workers and better information sharing, our efforts will be focused on speeding up local adoption when it's in the best interests of children or young people," she said.
Ms Blenkiron said she understood why the process had taken time but said even workers within the system had privately expressed their frustrations at a lack of resources.
"Any additional caseworkers and any additional resources is a wonderful thing," she said.
"It seems to be more of a commitment than others have made to improve the system.
"I've been really appreciative of the support of Barnados and support of adoption to get us where we are today, which is with two wonderful children who will grow up in a normalised environment."
A cross-departmental taskforce created by the ACT government to examine how to speed up adoptions for children in foster care is expected to report back in February.
Children's Minister Chris Bourke said Labor was concerned the Liberal Party's announcement would pre-empt the taskforce's findings.
"Why [do] the Canberra Liberals consider it necessary to commit $150,000 for a review when a government taskforce that they themselves supported is already looking at this exact matter?" he said.
