Celebrities Can Adopt – Why Can't We?

This article was published on Maree Claire online, you can read text below or click hyperllink for the real deal

Angelina Jolie wants a "rainbow family", while Madonna has added a Malawian baby to her brood. But if stars make international adoption seem easy, the reality for Australians is very different. Melissa Field reports on our heartbreaking policies.
In an orphanage in Cali, Colombia, a couple sits nervously, clutching each other's hands as the director shuffles papers on his desk. The air is heavy with humidity and cicadas hum rhythmically outside the open window, a tattered curtain blowing listlessly in the breeze. On the other side of the closed office door, a 15-week-old, chubby-cheeked boy is being carefully dressed by his Spanish-speaking carer, her hands gentle as she eases him into a brand new Bonds jumpsuit. The clothing is a gift from the boy's new parents, the couple who are anxiously anticipating his arrival with repeated, surreptitious glances at the door.

Buttoning the last press-stud with a snap, the carer's young charge is now ready to leave the only home he has ever known to begin a new life on the other side of the world. He gurgles happily, unaware that his life is soon to undergo a profound transformation.

At last, there's a tap at the door and former high-school sweethearts Kylie and Peter Fitzgerald glance at each other, tears shining in their eyes. The small boy is carried into the room and gently placed in Kylie's outstretched arms, while an aide captures this life-changing moment on the couple's video camera. The date is August 31, 2004. "This is Julian," smiles the orphanage director. "Please, allow me to introduce you to your new son."

For Sydneysiders Kylie, 34, and Peter, 35, this moment is the culmination of a two and a half year battle to adopt a child – a journey that has cost them thousands of dollars and hours of heartache. Contrast that with the experience of celebrities such as Angelina Jolie and Madonna, who seem to adopt children from overseas with ease. Jolie has even claimed she wants to adopt a "rainbow family" of children from different countries and cultures. The difference is that celebrities who adopt from overseas aren't working within the Australian system, points out Ricky Brisson, chief executive officer of Australian Families for Children, a non-profit organisation that supports couples seeking to adopt and helps facilitate overseas adoptions. In the US, adopting a child from overseas might take just nine months; here, it can take as long as six years. In NSW, couples can expect to spend about $40,000 in the process.

While few would disagree that rigorous background checks are needed to protect children from predators, the adoption process seems mired in bureaucracy, believes psychologist Trudy Rosenwald, who specialises in adoption issues and is herself the mother of two adoptive children from overseas. "Everyone accepts that safety measures have to be in place to ensure that children are placed in suitable families," she says. "The problem here is that the process is often so ambiguous it seems to many prospective parents as if the government agencies responsible are screening out families, rather than screening them in. In principle, it seems like you're deemed not suitable unless you can prove otherwise."

In late 2005, a report by the House of Representatives's standing committee inquiry into the problem, Overseas Adoption In Australia, stated, "Australia's adoption rate is low and the weight of evidence of delays and hostility faced by the adoption community is too great to ignore." But its many recommendations – including the establishment of an intercountry adoption peak body regulated by the attorney-general’s department – have been slow to come into effect. The Rudd government has announced plans to streamline the process, and advocates are lobbying hard to persuade politicians to put those plans into action.

Chief among those advocates is Deborra-lee Furness, wife of Hugh Jackman, with whom she has adopted two children from overseas, Oscar and Ava, now 7 and 2. "This is a humanitarian issue, and Australia has to step up to the plate and take its share of responsibility for the millions of orphans needing homes in the world," insists Furness.

"Currently, our record is less than stellar on this. As it stands, Australia is the second lowest country in the world in terms of the numbers of intercountry adoptions we process each year. That fact alone infuriates me."

How you can make a difference

Deborra-lee Furness, Australian Families for Children and other agencies believe intercountry adoption needs to be streamlined and improved. They recommend the following:

A federal peak body for intercountry adoption in line with recommendations made to parliament in 2005.
The introduction of national, uniform procedures for intercountry adoption, so the process is the same for all Australian families.
Tax relief for families who adopt children from overseas.
Sign our petition
If you'd like to lobby the federal government to act on this issue, sign our petition, and we'll forward your responses to the new Minister for Families, Jenny Macklin.