Open Adoptions Continue to Rise in New South Wales
Open Adoption rates continue to rise in New South Wales with new figures released indicating an 14% increase in adoptions from out of home care over the last 12 months. Adopt Change is pleased with this result and continue to work with the State Government towards stable and nurturing homes for children across the state.
Australia, 15 July 2020: Today’s announced increase in adoptions from out of home care is a welcomed result, with more children finding a safe family home for life. Adoption rates from care have increased from 142 in 2018-19 to 162 in 2019-20 across NSW.
Adopt Change has a vision for a world where all children can grow, learn, play and thrive in safe, nurturing and stable homes, schools and communities. It is our mission to support and educate families and communities in caring for displaced children, believe that every child has the right to grow up in a safe, nurturing and permanent family home.
In a release yesterday the Minister for Families, Communities and Disability Services said, “When it’s not safe for children to live with their birth parents, we’re committed to providing permanency through open adoption or guardianship, and these new figures are testament to the hard work being done to achieve that.”
Adopt Change are encouraged by the ongoing commitment of the Government to providing permanency and believe that the best outcomes are achieve when the community, Government and the sector work together to deliver results like this one.
Renee Carter, CEO of Adopt Change, was pleased by the announcement, “It’s encouraging to see the numbers continue to increase, within the context of the other work being completed. There’s been a lot of work being undertaken across the sector to continue to see more children able to live safely in their family of origin, and when they are unable, to find stability through guardianship or adoption. Children should have the assurance of knowing where they will spend their childhoods and that they are part of the family.”
“We will continue to work with Government and the sector to increase positive outcomes for children and families. There is still a substantial amount of work to do to reduce the number of children in out of home care down and there is no room for complacency when it comes to the lives of children. We look forward to continued collaboration towards more children experiencing stable childhoods.”
~ END~
For all media enquiries and interviews with Adopt Change CEO Renée Carter, please contact:
Jonathan Sweet
0400 679 329
media@adoptchange.org.au
Website: www.adoptchange.org.au
Instagram: www.instagram.com/adoptchangeau/
Twitter: www.twitter.com/adoptchangeau
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AdoptChangeAU
About Adopt Change Adopt Change is a not-for-profit organisation with a mission to support and educate families and communities in caring for displaced children (including those in foster care or orphaned) to achieve our vision of a world where all children grow, learn, play and thrive in a safe, nurturing and stable environment. We provide support resources, training, education and programs to work towards achieving this goal.
Adopt Change recognises the impacts of impermanency and trauma and we support families through workshops and online resources; research; pre- and post-permanency supports; trauma informed supports; information and community events; as well as working with governments, departments and the sector to address issues surrounding permanency for children.
We work to raise community awareness of the importance of meeting these rights for children; and empower Australians to work towards all children having positive life outcomes. We support capacity building of families to ensure that vulnerable children are able to remain within their family of origin where possible. When that is not possible or safe, we advocate for other timely and permanent options, including adoption.
Adopt Change operates the government-funded program My Forever Family NSW to recruit, train, support and advocate for foster carers, kinship carers, guardians and adoptive parents for children in out of home care in NSW.
National Adoption & Permanency Awareness Month is held during November and is coordinated by Adopt Change to promote improvement to permanency legislation, policy and practice to facilitate a community where a child’s right to stability is prioritised. National Adoption Awareness Week was founded by Deborra-lee Furness in 2008.
About Renée Carter
Renée Carter is the CEO of Australian not-for-profit Adopt Change, which also operates the program My Forever Family NSW. She is also a member of the Institute Advisory Group for the Independent Research Centre Institute of Open Adoption Studies (The University of Sydney).
Renée has a strong background in communications and executive management, along with board level experience in the corporate and not-for-profit sectors and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (MAICD). Her experience includes three years as Chair of charity Child Abuse Prevention Service (CAPS), an organisation focused on early intervention, education and support of families and communities.
Renée is passionate about influencing policy and practice to deliver timely and effective outcomes for children, by garnering community, sector and government support.
