e-mail
Australia is a beautiful place, don’t you think? Beyond the beauty of the land, I’m always impressed with the way this country handles adoption issues. In an article dated yesterday, I could hardly contain my glee for the members of the triad living down under. Why? Let’s jump right to the meat of the proposals being discussed (and the one that makes me most happy).
Under the proposed scheme adoptive parents will automatically receive a child’s original and amended birth certificates and other prescribed information, such as adoption orders. A child under 18 will be able to gain access to the information with the adoptive parents’ consent.
Say what? The original, unamended birth certificate? When? At birth? Hurrah! And letting a child gain access to information if the adoptive parents approve? How fabulous is that? I do hope that these proposals will bring about some counseling for new adoptive families so that they may understand the consequences of denying their children the permission. Interesting.
But it gets even better.
Birth parents of a child under 18 will also be entitled to gain access to information about the child provided the director-general of the Department of Community Services determines that the parents will pose no risk to the child or adoptive parents.
Say what? Hurrah indeed! How very exciting for birth parents who might not have been counseled on the importance of open adoption relationships. And, yes, I do agree with the stipulation of that risk. Why? Let’s be honest: not every parent (birth or otherwise) always has the best interests of the child in mind or at heart. I think that this idea, approval by the Department of Community Services, is better than allowing an adoptive parent to say no for their own made-up reasons. Hopefully they will be keeping corrupt, overly-opinionated people out of the Department.
Of course, the proposal has been met with some naysayers. You can’t have forward progress without someone trying to stop it! Their reasons, of course, are all ones we have heard before. And laughed at.
A spokeswoman said birth parents, often suffering shame and guilt, could be driven underground if adoptive parents and the children gained access to the identifying information from the time of the adoption. “The impact may unwittingly be more adopted children without openness and access to their birth parents,” she said.
The shame, of course, is because of people who tell the birth parents while they are still expectant parents that they are not good enough. The guilt, of course, comes from not being good enough. See the cycle? I doubt, of course, that the majority of birth parents are going to go “underground” with this proposal. The majority of birth parents want to know that their child is okay.
I’m not quite sure of my opinions on another issue in the proposal which allows parents waiting to adopt to continue fertility treatments or to be pregnant. It’s not that I oppose the idea exactly. I understand that this previously was creating lies to agencies (as we’ve seen in our own country). But my concern is whether or not this specific group of waiting parents will be forced to be honest with expectant parents or if they will still be allowed to lie or lie by omission to those who are considering relinquishment. As the article didn’t address that issue, I can’t make a full opinion yet.
All in all, once again, we have a few things we can learn from Australia.
