Victorian same-sex couples now allowed to adopt
Benjamin Preiss, State Politics Reporter Same-sex couples will be able adopt children but religious adoption agencies have retained the right to refuse to deal with them.
Cate Blanchett thought about adopting for years
Cate Blanchett says her recent adoption of a baby girl had nothing to do with wanting a daughter after having three sons.
Australians get green light to adopt from two more countries
JUDITH IRELAND Australians will be able to adopt children from Poland and Latvia under changes to overseas adoption announced by the Turnbull government.
The little girl who needs a home by Christmas
Staff writers It's that time of year when children start contemplating what they would like for Christmas.
Victorian Labor to introduce same-sex adoption laws
Richard Willingham, Benjamin Preiss Thousands of same-sex couples with children will have the right to be jointly recognised as parents by Victorian law.
Grandma surprised with brand new granddaughter
Staff writers Finding out you’re going to be a grandmother can be a very emotional moment. Finding out that you’re a grandmother and the baby is already here is just out of this world.
I gave my daughter up for adoption - then tried to be her mum
Stephanie Andersen The first time my oldest daughter called me 'Mum', she was 17.
Adoption ban on pregnant women to be lifted
KIRSTY NEEDHAM Pregnant women will no longer be barred from adoption waiting lists in NSW, after the Baird Government decided the practice was discriminatory.
Canberra Mother of Year backs calls for easier adoption
MATTHEW RAGGATT A mother who spent six years waiting for approval to adopt two local children has backed calls for a more efficient nationwide model of adoption.
Mum gives adopted daughter 20-year-old letter on her wedding day
Staff writers It may have taken two decades to deliver, but this mother wanted to be sure her daughter got this heartfelt letter at the right time.
Capturing the joy of adoption
LETITIA ROWLANDS The arrival of any newborn is cause for celebration. When the baby is being welcomed into an adoptive family the joy is just as intense.
Woman adopts best friend's four daughters after cancer tragedy
Best friends share everything - and for these two life-long friends, that includes family.
Family offers child for adoption on Facebook
Melanie Mahoney A family is under investigation after offering a four-year-old girl for adoption on Facebook over the weekend.
How a woman's dying wish made another woman a mum
Ellen McCarthy "I kind of think about, 'What did I do beforehand? What kept me so busy back then?' Because now I'm really busy."
Why quick and easy adoptions aren't always best
Patricia Fronek Imagine for one moment your child went missing. Surely you would expect no stone to be left unturned to find them - even if took six months, a year, two, even more.
Man stolen as baby reunited with mother after 41 years
Staff writers A man has reunited with his mother 41 years after mysteriously being taken from her as a newborn.
Adoptive mums and dads can get new parent depression too
Nancy Maes Adopting a child is supposed to be a joyous event, but for some mothers it is far from a Hallmark moment.
Adopting a child in or out of Australia is far from simple
JUDITH IRELAND Australians have wildly different experiences on their journeys to adopting children.
Longing for children - then three at once
Ellen McCarthy After years of trying for children, Lauren and Joe Kamnik were blessed with three within a little more than a year - via adoption, a surrogate and a natural pregnancy.
Shopping for children: Australian adoption plans putting kids at risk
Patricia Fronek There are several very worrying elements of the latest announcement on Australia's planned adoption scheme.
Why we chose to adopt a child with Down sydrome
Kari Wagner-Peck Everyone in foster care (and really in life) has something that makes them more vulnerable. We just know what our son's is.
Please don't say I'm lucky because I was adopted
Shaaren Pine On the one hand I was having a regular life with friends and sports and sleepovers and school. But I was also always wondering: Did my mother love me? What was wrong with me?
20 years of heartache, then, at last, a baby
Nadeera Pathiraja When people comment on how lucky our daughter is we always say we are the lucky ones, as she has enriched our lives in more ways than we imagined.
'My mother chose not to hold or see me after I was born'
MICHAELA FOX Many adopted children feel like a crucial part of their story is missing. Two women adopted out at birth share their stories.
Government must set state adoption targets, Barnardos Australia says
RACHEL BROWNE Australia's leading child abuse charity is calling on the federal government to introduce targets to encourage the adoption of children from foster care.
Helping a toddler embrace an adopted sibling
Jackie Spinner A single parent by choice, I am preparing to adopt a second baby from Morocco. And I face a special challenge.
Photographer captures the beauty of adoption
Dennis Green The love of a family is usually tough to capture on camera. This is an exception.
Who will Australia's new adoption process really help?
Patricia Fronkek At first glance, Australia’s changes to intercountry adoption sound fair. But there are too many unanswered questions about this reform agenda.
Changes to intercountry adoption must put children’s needs first
Patricia Fronek Tony Abbott has vowed to make intercountry adoption cheaper, faster, and easier. But will this really be a good thing for the children who are being adopted?
Mum and daughter reunited 77 years after adoption
A 102-year-old woman has spoken about her joy and astonishment at being reunited with the daughter she gave up for adoption more than seven decades ago.
The Chinese parents who give their babies away online
Lavinia Mo In China, expectant couples who are unwilling or unable to keep their children go to a special website to adopt their babies out, rather than aborting or abandoning them.
Our rocky road to parenthood, via India
Sarah Salmon I've learnt that it makes no difference if your child is adopted or biological. It is the same kind of love.
More sick children to be adopted from overseas, government says
JUDITH IRELAND Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said the government is taking steps to help more sick and disabled children be adopted from South Africa.
Adoption paved the way for love
Julie Davis For me, the decision to adopt my baby out was fairly black and white. But reflecting on what has been, I think we've both been blessed.
'Better than I'd imagined': 'Burger King Baby' finds her mother
A woman who was abandoned in a fast food restaurant bathroom 27 years ago has found her birth mother, weeks after launching a worldwide search on social media.
From 0 to woah: Couple welcomes triplets then twins in one year
Melanie Mahoney A couple has had their dream of starting a family come true in a way they never would have imagined.
The argument against relaxing international adoption laws
Anonymous We have settled for the rhetoric that there are lots of orphaned children, and numerous parents who want to adopt them, so why not make the process easier? But that equation doesn’t necessarily add up.
Law changed to make international adoption easier
Letitia Rowlands International adoption became more straightforward today, thanks to changes to Australian law.
Adopted twins find each other online
Two young women on opposite sides of the world have connected on social media and discovered they are twins.
Growing up Asian in a white household
Yeong Sassall Some people argue that cross-cultural adoption isn't 'natural'. But Yeong Sassall, who was adopted from South Korea into a white Australian family, begs to differ.
Indian children being trafficked for illegal adoption
RORY CALLINAN Fresh evidence of Indian children being trafficked for adoption in Australia has emerged as the Abbott government flagged a boost in inter-country adoptions.
Abbott pledges to ease the way for Australians to adopt overseas children
JONATHAN SWAN Tony Abbott says he wants to make it "much much easier" for Australian couples to adopt children from overseas.
Tony Abbott pledges adoption reform
JONATHAN SWAN Tony Abbott wants to make it "much much easier" for Australian couples to adopt children from overseas, saying tens of thousands of babies could be brought to Australia from orphanages.
Why we need to adopt more
Adoption laws are letting down children in out-of-home care, with only 100 children adopted in Australia last year.
'I'm angry I was adopted'
I regret my adoption and wish I'd had the chance to grow up with my mother and my big brother. But I can't regret knowing my adoptive parents.
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