Page 808 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 21 March 2017
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Domestic adoption process in the ACT
Review—government response
MS STEPHEN-SMITH (Kurrajong—Minister for Community Services and Social Inclusion, Minister for Disability, Children and Youth, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Minister for Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations) (3.48): For the information of members, I present the following paper:
Domestic Adoption Process in the ACT—Review—Final report—Government response, dated March 2017.
I ask leave to make a statement in relation to the paper.
Leave granted.
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I present the government response to the domestic adoption task force final report titled Review of the domestic adoption process in the ACT. The task force made six recommendations and the government has agreed to all recommendations in full or in principle. As I noted when I tabled the task force report, recommendations 1 and 2 were already being progressed. These relate to improving information available to prospective adoptive parents both prior to and during the process. The remaining four recommendations will be progressed as a priority as resources are available.
Of the six recommendations made by the task force, I wish to draw members’ attention to recommendation 1, relating to the need for better communication between all parties throughout the adoption process. The Community Services Directorate is currently progressing work to implement this recommendation as a priority. The directorate is developing a clear communication plan that will enable greater communication between all parties in the adoption process. Greater and clearer communication is a simple yet significant improvement to understanding time frames in the domestic adoption process in the ACT and is certainly something that has been raised with me by a number of parents who have been through the adoption process.
I commend to the Assembly the government’s response to the review of the domestic adoption process in the ACT.
Papers
Mr Gentleman presented the following papers:
Subordinate legislation (including explanatory statements unless otherwise stated)
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