For adoptive and prospective adoptive parents

Prospective adoptive parents

• Step by step guide to the intercountry adoption process.
• Queensland Adoption Services have developed a series of videos on the process and experience of intercountry adoption from the perspective of adoptive parents who have experienced the intercountry adoption process.
• International Social Services has prepared “Intercountry adoption and its risks: A guide for prospective adopters (PDF)” which assists prospective adoptive parents to take all elements of intercountry adoption into account when making decisions regarding adoption.
• The Department of Social Services has prepared the following factsheets to help prospective adoptive parents navigate the pre-adoption period:
  • Sending gifts and care packages in the period between allocation and travel
  • Pre-placement contact by prospective adoptive parents (including travel to countries of origin)
  • Financial Contributions and Donations by Prospective Adoptive Parents
  • Donations and contact with overseas organisations by intercountry adoption support organisations
  • Interstate transfer guidelines, in the case that prospective adoptive parents relocate interstate during the course of their adoption application.
• Prospective adoptive parents are encouraged to think carefully about the ethics and motivators of adopting from overseas. You may find the following resources useful to begin these considerations:
  • “The Complexity of Adoption Ethics”, published by the Adoptive Families Association of British Columbia
  • “Intercountry adoption“, published by UNICEF.

Adoptive Parents

• Relationships Australia South Australia (RASA) has information for adoptive parents. RASA also provides post adoption support services, which provide information and support specific to parenting adopted children who experienced loss and trauma in their early years. From 1 July 2021, RASA will also provide the free national Intercountry Adoptee and Family Support Service. Information on this service can be found on the RASA website.
• Relationship Matters Counselling & Mediation has created a series of webinars for the intercountry adoption community, including:
  • The Role of the Extended Family in Intercountry Adoption
  • Identity and Belonging – Parenting Intercountry Adopted Teens
  • Recognise and Repair – Addressing the uniqueness of adoptive parenting.
• International Social Service Australia has created this Factsheet on Adoptive Parenting: Information for Friends and Family (PDF), a helpful resource on what to expect and how to support the family of a newly adopted child. Adoption Mosaic, an American-based, adoptee run organisation, provides a series of resources about becoming parents to an intercountry adoptee, navigating trauma experiences and mental health, celebrating birthdays, interest in finding birth parents and DNA testing.
• For information about accessing Parental Leave, please refer to Parental leave for intercountry adoptive parents.
• Korean-American Adoptee and Therapist Cam Lee has created a YouTube channel for adoptees and adoptive parents to assist in navigating racism, questions about origin, tracing and reunion, and mental health in transracial adoptive families.
• Pact: An Adoption Alliance, an American-based organisation, has created a series of short videos about navigating terminology and questions around adoption:
  • Appropriate Terminology to use when Discussing Adoption
  • Responding to Intrusive Questions from Strangers
  • Secrecy versus Privacy when Talking about Adoption
• Talking about Race and Racism:
  • Hollaback! is an American organisation that provides resources to help both victims and bystanders in navigating and ending instances of harassment. Their free Bystander Intervention Training material provides a helpful guide to taking a stand against racism and harassment that an intercountry adoptee may experience in their lifetime.
  • NBC News article “How to talk to parents about race if you’re adopted or multiracial” describes how to navigate open discussions of racism and discrimination within a multiracial family unit.
  • NPR’s “Life Kit” podcast has published a short episode about identifying, navigating and taking a stand against microaggressions surrounding race.
  • Relationship Matters’ webinar, a Q&A panel on “The Ugly Model”, discusses racism and microaggressions experienced by transracial adoptees.
  • The North American Council on Adoptable Children has published an article by JaeRan Kim, PhD, discussing racial identity and racial justice in transracial adoption, and the importance of engaging with the racial identity of the adopted child as a family unit.
• Understanding trauma and breakdowns
  • International Social Service’s booklet on navigating and learning from intercountry adoption breakdowns (PDF) demonstrates how to identify the indicators of adoption breakdown, provides important data and identifies important risk and preventative factors that may lead to or prevent an adoption breakdown.
  • Queensland Foster and Kinship Care has published a booklet on Children/Young People and Developmental Trauma (PDF). The booklet details how trauma experience may manifest in behaviour, and how best to manage these as a parent or carer.
  • Blue Knot Foundation provides a series of resources and information to empower recovery from complex trauma, focusing on people who experience abuse and trauma in childhood, including:
    • • What is Childhood Trauma?
      • Trauma related experiences and responses
      • Factsheets for Survivors and Supporters

Disclaimer:

Views and recommendations of third parties, which may also be included on this site do not necessarily reflect the views of the Commonwealth, or indicate a commitment to a particular course of action.

Links to other Internet sites are for your convenience. These links do not constitute endorsement of material at those sites, or any associated organisation, product or service.

View further information about the Department’s website linking policy.