Pre-placement contact

In this section:

What is pre-placement contact?

Pre-placement contact is when you have contact with:

a child who can be adopted
a person or organisation caring for that child or
an intercountry adoption authority before the adoption process has been finalised

Under the Hague Convention, you generally can’t have any contact before you have accepted the placement proposal.

Why pre-placement contact is not recommended

If you’re considering pre-placement contact, we recommend that you talk to your state and territory central authority for advice, even if your child’s country of origin has different processes.

This is because pre-placement contact may:

be viewed as influencing the decision of the overseas government or agency
affect the decision of the overseas authority to honor the placement of the child (if the child has already been placed with a family)
risk the placement prospects for a child
risk the transparency or future of Australia’s intercountry adoption program with that country

Hague Convention rules on pre-placement contact

In some situations, the Hague Convention allows pre-placement contact after the placement proposal has been accepted, including where:

the child has agreed to pre-placement contact
the contact is desirable or unavoidable
the overseas authority asks for pre-placement contact
it’s an intercountry relative adoption

Traveling to the country of origin

You can visit the country you have applied to adopt a child from. But it’s important that you don’t visit any orphanages, children’s homes, organisations or people who care for children that may be placed with Australian families.