Waiting times

Intercountry adoption waiting times

We work with 13 partner countries to provide intercountry adoption. You can view each country’s page to read individual country waiting times.

Adoption figures

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) provides a variety of reports and statistics on local and intercountry adoption in Australia.

The AIHW reports that the waiting times vary between the partner countries and currently the median waiting time to adopt a child from overseas is 25 months.

What impacts waiting times?

There are a number of things that affect waiting times to adopt a child from overseas, including:

  • the number and characteristics of children in need to adoption
  • the number of applications
  • the age and needs of the child/children you are approved to adopt
  • how long it takes the overseas country to process your application (which is beyond our control)

Your state and territory central authority will be able to provide you with updated waiting times for your chosen partner country.