The Queensland and Intercountry Adoption Handbook, available upon request from Adoption Services Queensland provides information for couples seeking to express interest in being assessed as suitable adoptive parents for a child in Queensland.
Table of contents:
Backgrounds of children requiring placement through adoption
Children requiring adoptive placements in Queensland are generally aged up to two years of age. The majority of children recently requiring placement have been between five and nine months of age at the time of their adoption. However, a small number of children have been between nine months and two years of age at the time of their adoption.
Children requiring adoptive placements may have a range of medical needs and complex family and social backgrounds.
The medical needs of children have included:
Medical
- prematurity
- Hepatitis C
- minor medical conditions
- minor physical disabilities
- a history of psychiatric illness in the birth family.
Complex family and social backgrounds have included issues relating to:
- child's cultural background
- parent's social circumstances
- circumstances of the child's conception
- child's extended birth family.
How many children need adoptive placements in Queensland each year?
Although it is not possible to estimate the number of children who may require an adoptive placement in any given year, it is anticipated that there will continue to be a small number of children each year requiring adoptive placements in Queensland.
Information regarding the number of children requiring adoptive placements in Queensland, and across Australia, is available in the annual Adoptions Australia report published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare .
Eligibility criteria - who can express an interest?
Couples expressing interest in being assessed as suitable adoptive parents for a child in Queensland must meet eligibility criteria set out in the Adoption Act 2009.
Couples are eligible if:
- they are a man and a woman who have been living together as spouses (either married or de facto) continuously for at least two years, and are currently living together
- they are both adults who are resident or domiciled in Queensland
- at least one of them is an Australian citizen
- the female partner is not pregnant
- neither partner is undergoing fertility treatment and have not undergone fertility treatment within the previous 6 months
- they are not an intended parent under a surrogacy arrangement within the meaning of the Surrogacy Act 2010
- if they have been an intended parent for a surrogacy arrangement within the meaning of the Surrogacy Act 2010 and the surrogacy arrangement ended not less than 6 months earlier
- the couple does not have custody* of a child under one year of age or a child who has been in their custody for less than one year (*not including children for whom the applicant is an approved carer).
How to express interest
Couples seeking to express interest in being adoptive parents for a child in Queensland must complete the Adoption Expression of Interest Adoption Expression of Interest form and forward it to Adoption Services Queensland. A Guide to completing an adoption expression of interest form Guide to completing an adoption expression of interest form has been developed to assist couples to complete this form.
What happens after an expression of interest is lodged?
After a couple expresses interest by completing the Adoption Expression of Interest form their eligibility will be determined by Adoption Services Queensland and they are notified of the outcome. If the couple is eligible, their names are entered on the expression of interest register.
The number of couples to be selected for assessment from the expression of interest register varies from year to year as the number of assessments is based on the anticipated needs of children likely to require adoptive placements.
If the couple is selected to have their suitability assessed, they will be sent a notice of selection.
If a couple does not receive a notice of selection for assessment within two years of their expression of interest, the expression of interest will expire. After this, a couple may lodge another expression of interest, should they wish to do so.
Assessment fee
Couples who receive a notice of selection for assessment are required to pay the assessment fee.
The assessment fee is set out in the Adoption Regulation 2009 and is subject to change.
About the assessment
When a couple receive a notice of assessment, they are jointly assessed to see if they are suitable to parent an adopted child together, however they must also be found suitable as individuals.
Assessment is a comprehensive process that involves information being gathered and analysed from a variety of sources. The department can obtain this information by:
- asking the couple to complete a workshop or similar educational activity
- visiting the couple's home and talking with them
- talking with referees nominated by the couple and anyone else with relevant information
- obtaining expert advice about the couples' health
- asking the couple to prepare documents, for example, a profile of their family
- obtaining information from government departments including criminal and domestic violence history, and investigative information and traffic history from the Queensland Police Service.
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