Page 2193 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 3 August 2016
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We know that these processes are sometimes frustrating for adoptive parents. We know that keeping adoptive parents informed about the process is important. We also know that providing false hope that it is easy to dispense with birth parents’ rights will not remove frustration and not be in the long-term interests of children or their families.
In order to set up a loving, permanent life for a child, we need to ensure that adoptive parents and parents with enduring parental responsibility orders are not saddled with a lifetime of conflict and legal uncertainty. We need to take time to make the right decisions for each individual child or young person and their adoptive and birth families. We need to ensure that each decision is made in the best interests of the child.
I have outlined for the Assembly the complexities of the adoption application processes and the reasons why this can take some time to complete. However, I note the comments of Ms Lawder and some concerns that have been raised in my office on the timeliness of the process. That is why I will move the amendment circulated in my name that will see a cross-directorate adoption task force formed to identify any issues and make recommendations regarding matters related to the timely and appropriate completion of the adoption process. A report will be brought back to the Assembly by the last sitting day of February 2017.
I move:
Omit all words after paragraph (1)(b), substitute:
“(c) means other than adoption, such as enduring parental responsibility, are available to achieve permanency for children and young people in care;
(d) the adoption process has to consider a complex range of factors, including obtaining the consent of birth parents, and that this can add to the time taken to complete applications;
(e) where birth parent consent is not provided, special dispensation has to be sought from the Supreme Court; and
(f) consistent with the Senate Inquiry Report into Forced Adoptions (2012), dispensation with parental consent is only recommended in limited and specific circumstances; and
(2) calls on the ACT Government to:
(a) form a cross-directorate Domestic Adoptions Taskforce to identify any issues and make recommendations regarding matters related to the timely and appropriate completion of the adoption process; and
(b) report back to the Assembly by the last sitting day of February 2017.”.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (11.11): I welcome the fact that Ms Lawder has brought this issue here again and acknowledge her continuing interest in the matter. I am sorry to hear that additional families are finding it difficult to finalise their
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