Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to commend and support this motion by the member for Forde. This motion recognises the importance of National Adoption Awareness Week and the significance of encouraging adoptees, adoptive parents and biological parents to open and continue the dialogue on adoption in Australia, and to encourage people to discuss how adoption has impacted on their lives. The second part of the motion calls on all governments, both state and federal, to support all participants in the adoption process. I congratulate the member for Forde on his contribution and look forward to hearing the other members speak on this issue—particularly the member for Fadden, because he usually makes a very worthy and valuable contribution.

As the House knows, I was fostered. It was interesting to listen to the member for Forde speak about his experiences as an adoptee, especially because of my experiences as a foster child. I was fostered in 1961. The stigma around a foster child was totally different to that for a child who was adopted. The children who lived at the top of my street were adopted, and no-one spoke about it; but the fact that I was fostered and could still have access to my real family meant there was a totally different outlook and attitude. I think it was a great contribution and it was interesting to hear the member for Forde’s story and his obvious love and passion for the family that adopted him.

I strongly support this motion as it is important to ensure the safety and security that as a community we are obliged to provide our children with. This is about children who are in need of care and comfort not only from adoptive parents but also from foster parents, kinship carers, general home based carers, intensive home carers and grandparent carers.

I have spoken about Grandcare programs and fostering in this House before, and I reiterate that this is about our duty as a society to nourish, care for and protect children in our society. In my first speech in this place I spoke about my own experience as a foster child. I also spoke about the young girl, Shellay Ward, who died in New South Wales in 2007 through neglect by her parents. Her name should live on and be a continuous reminder to us that, as a civilised society, we do fail children sometimes and the worst possible consequences arise when we fail them. We must remain ever-vigilant in all aspects of caring for our children.

Last year I was invited to promote the positive aspects of being a foster child on Radio 6PR in Perth, and I urged people who were considering fostering to take the step and make the commitment. I look forward to speaking at the upcoming Australian Foster Care Conference dinner in Perth in late March. The theme of the conference is ‘You raise me up’—what a great name that is; it is so relevant to the issue.

Back to adoption, I have a brother who was adopted and whom I have never met, but I would certainly like to thank his adoptive parents and all the adoptive parents in Australia who have taken the step. The simple fact is that there are now not enough of them. The process for adopting children in Australia is administered by each state and territory. The process for adopting children intercountry falls under the Immigration (Guardianship of Children) Act 1946.

There are some amazing facts about adoption, which has seen a steady decline in Australia since 1969. I fear that we have painted ourselves into a corner with regulation, as we now adopt more children from overseas than we do from within Australia. Figures provided to me from the Parliamentary Library show that in the year 1981-82 only six per cent of all adoptions in this country were from overseas. In the years 2007-08, that figure has increased to 61 per cent. In the same year, 23 per cent of adoptions were ‘known child’ adoptions, which are adoptions of children who are Australian residents and have a pre-existing relationship with the adoptive parent or parents. It includes step-parents, other relatives and carers. The remaining 16 per cent of adoptions were local adoptions.

One may ask why we are now adopting more children from outside Australia. Before I give some of the reasons, let me give another fact about adoptions which gives an indication of how the face of adoption in Australia has changed. In 2007-08, there were 440 adoptions in Australia—down from almost 10,000 in 1971-72. The report Adoptions Australia 2007-08 states that these trends coincide with declining fertility rates and an increasing proportion of children born outside registered marriage—which I think we used to know as ‘outside wedlock’. Other reasons are the availability of effective birth control and the emergence of family planning centres combined with the increased social acceptance of raising children outside of a marriage—as I am currently doing myself.

My experience as a foster child was positive. I lived with a loving, caring family who provided me with a positive outlook. They provided me with the security that children look for, and I encourage all parents to take the step to adopt or foster. (Time expired)

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