International adoption in Australia

Inter-country adoption is a complicated issue – here are some facts and figures about Australian international adoptions.

In 2010, 197 children from overseas were adopted by Australian families, down from 434 in 2004-05.
At the end of the year, a total Australian 963 applications were waiting at overseas placement agencies .
Of the 197 placements approved for Australian families, most children (64) were from China, 31 were from Taiwan, and there were 26 each from South Korea and the Philippines.
The federal government manages the overseas programs; state authorities scrutinise and prepare families intending to adopt.
Adoptions can be expensive; for example, the adoption fee in South Korea was just raised from $US12000 to $US14000..
Different counties have different criteria: some will accept single women, some have age limits, some require parents to go to church.
Australia has adoption relationships with 14 countries.

For more information or to join the campaign to change adoption laws, visitNational Adoption Awareness Week or email [womensweekly@acpmagazines.com.au](/mailto:womensweekly@acpmagazines.com.au).