Page 690 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 23 March 1993
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It is for this reason that I have highlighted as a future issue the ability of homosexual couples to adopt children. I am pleased and delighted that the gay community have come forward, suggesting that a committee be established to explore and review issues in relation to homosexual couples. It is within this context that a discussion of the ability of homosexual couples to adopt children is most appropriate.
In its report, the Social Policy Committee focused particular attention on the need for the process of adopting children to be fair and to be perceived to be fair. I will comment specifically on the amendments to the Adoption Bill when they are tabled. However, at this time I would like to comment on several issues highlighted by the committee in its report which will not be the subject of individual amendments. The committee noted the special requirements in the legislation which pertain to the adoption of Aboriginal children. These requirements are important and are ones which have been highlighted by Aboriginal communities for some time as being important for the welfare and well-being of Aboriginal children raised by adoptive parents.
As stated in the report, the Social Policy Committee explored the question of whether special requirements of cultural heritage and background of adoption applicants should also be taken into account for overseas children as they are for Aboriginal children. It was decided that the "welfare and interests of the child to be paramount" outlined in clause 6 should be the overall determining factor in overseas adoptions and that the court has some discretion, in granting adoption orders, to take into account the racial or ethnic background of the proposed adoptive parents.
The issue of the dispensation of consent is also an important one. Stability in an adopted child's life is crucial for his or her development, as social research indicates. In the case of older children, birth parents who have persistently failed to live up to community expectations and standards regarding the raising of their children and who in some cases have abandoned, deserted, neglected or ill-treated their children will not be able to prevent their children from being adopted.
As has been mentioned before, the access to information provisions in the Bill have been considered by many people to be the most important. However, as the committee has pointed out, "the access to origins provisions of this legislation operate on the premise that all adopted people know of their adopted status and have the right to information about their adoption, birth and family of origin". It is assumed that in most cases adopted children know of their adoption. However, it is likely, as Ms Ellis described, that many adults in our society still do not know of their adoption as children and may never know. Circumstances 30 or more years ago regarding the adoption of children were very different. The question of the adoption of children was considered to be a secret known only to immediate family members and friends, and to this day never divulged to the children themselves, now fully grown adults. In order that not too many traumas and surprises lie in store for adopted children and birth parents, a public education awareness campaign on the importance of open and honest communication in adoption should be considered in the ACT.
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