Page 2192 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 3 August 2016
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We have reduced the period of time that a child or young person is required to be living in care and living with the carer who will be assuming full parental responsibility before an enduring parental responsibility order can be sought. The period of time has reduced from two years to one year or a total of one year in care during the previous two years.
While these changes relate to enduring parental responsibility, we have changed policies to bring adoption practices in line with these legislative amendments. This means that adoptions now require 12 months of stability before moving to make adoption orders.
This Assembly may recall that when we recently amended the Adoption Act to support pathways to permanency by clarifying the interpretation of the act whilst amending the Children and Young People Act, this reduced some complications to adoption orders that had previously been brought to our attention by the Family Court jurisdiction.
Adoption and all permanent care options will be one of the most important decisions in a child’s life. A number of factors need to be considered, and these decisions take time. The long-term care of a child is a decision that requires careful consideration, and we need to get it right from the start. Working through the process to ensure adoption is in the best interests of the child takes time and is affected by a number of significant variables. These variables include the circumstances of each child or young person, the granting of parental consent to the adoption, the time taken to complete the work of preparing applications, and the processes of the Supreme Court.
In the case of adoptions of children through out of home care, often parental consent is not easily obtainable due to various reasons such as accessibility of the biological parents. There can also be difficulties in determining paternity, mental health and other wellbeing matters which impact on the birth parents’ capacity to give consent, including their reluctance to provide information. In these instances, dispensation of consent may need to be obtained. Consistent with the 2012 Senate inquiry report into forced adoptions, dispensation with parental consent is recommended only in limited and specific circumstances.
These complex matters need to be considered and resolved prior to making any submission to court. There is comprehensive work that needs to be undertaken so that the matters can be settled quickly through the court processes and to reduce the risk that the adoption order will be later contested. Child and Youth Protection Services ensures that this work is completed thoroughly to avoid later delays in the court process.
This government is committed to improving children’s access to timely, stable and permanent care arrangements, be this through adoption or enduring parental responsibility. We have made legislative amendments and we are implementing a range of new services to give children the safest and most stable lives possible.
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