![Changes to Victoria's adoption laws could give single people the same rights as married couples.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170727093952im_/http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/m/6/9/y/image.related.landscape.380x253.gwm4wm.png/1497930362787.jpg)
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![While adoption can be a wonderful option, we must also be aware of the dangers.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170727093952im_/http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/content/dam/images/3/x/7/z/4/image.related.wideLandscape.460x259.ghh4o3.gmwj6a.png/1456981563324.jpg)
Why quick and easy adoptions aren't always best
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.
![<i></i>](http://web.archive.org./web/20170727093952im_/http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/content/dam/images/3/u/r/5/0/image.related.wideLandscape.460x259.1mptwa.gmwj6a.png/1456981563324.jpg)
Adoptive mums and dads can get new parent depression too
Adopting a child is supposed to be a joyous event, but for some mothers it is far from a Hallmark moment.
![Jackie's son shows no interest in his Cabbage Patch Doll "little brother".](http://web.archive.org./web/20170727093952im_/http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/content/dam/images/3/j/2/g/2/image.related.landscape.120x80.11cu48.gmwj6a.png/1456981563324.jpg)
![Adoption](http://web.archive.org./web/20170727093952im_/http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/content/dam/images/6/y/j/g/image.related.landscape.120x80.6yiy.gmwj6a.png/1456981563324.jpg)
!["From her perspective, I radiated 'LOOK AT ME', while she had spent a lifetime pretending I had never happened" ... ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20170727093952im_/http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/content/dam/images/2/f/1/3/u/image.related.landscape.120x80.2f114.gmwj6a.png/1456981563324.jpg)
![Adoption](http://web.archive.org./web/20170727093952im_/http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/content/dam/images/3/4/6/0/n/image.related.landscape.120x80.3460e.gmwj6a.png/1456981563324.jpg)
Latest
![Stewart has adopted two local Queensland children, who are now aged 8 and 5.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170727093952im_/http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/q/j/d/9/image.related.landscape.300x200.guqjck.png/1492421307027.jpg)
Meet the stay-at-home dad with two adopted kids
"It's a very uncertain process."
![<i></i>](http://web.archive.org./web/20170727093952im_/http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/c/f/y/y/image.related.landscape.300x200.gvcf8y.png/1491233185481.jpg)
Is 'platonic parenting' the future of motherhood?
After job sharing and flat sharing, are we about to see friends take up child sharing?
![A 75 year old Adelaide man has faced a string of child sexual assault and act of indecency charges related to two ...](http://web.archive.org./web/20170727093952im_/http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/0/s/2/o/image.related.landscape.300x200.gv4qdm.png/1497843918656.jpg)
Adoption by same-sex couple opposed by Catholic birth parents
A court has allowed a four-year-old girl to be adopted by a same-sex couple despite her birth parents' opposition on the basis of their Catholic faith.
![<i></i>](http://web.archive.org./web/20170727093952im_/http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/a/k/k/b/image.related.landscape.300x200.guakgd.png/1486722852099.jpg)
The foster dad who only takes in terminally ill children
He has buried about 10 children. Some died in his arms.
![Marc Hadden with baby Grace. "We are truly blessed, for sure."](http://web.archive.org./web/20170727093952im_/http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/3/2/m/d/image.related.landscape.300x200.gu30pr.png/1485990508863.png)
Firefighter adopts baby girl he helped deliver
Five years ago firefighter Marc Hadden took an emergency call that changed his life.
![Christine with her sons Taylor and Payton on adoption day.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170727093952im_/http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/m/l/y/9/image.related.landscape.300x200.gt0ly9.png/1483599595304.jpg)
'It was brutal, and it was love'
It was National Adoption Day when Christine Blaine showed up to watch judges sign the adoption papers.
![Adoption day - when a family of four became a family of six.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170727093952im_/http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/c/p/3/3/image.related.landscape.300x200.gtcj40.png/1482101553828.jpg)
Mum's emotional letter to foster kids: 'I don't love you like my own'
A mother has written an emotional letter to her daughters to commemorate the day of their adoption.
!["It took his left-behind toothbrush to undo me."](http://web.archive.org./web/20170727093952im_/http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/5/w/h/w/image.related.landscape.300x200.gt5run.png/1481426789304.jpg)
Foster carer shares heartfelt post on 'getting attached' to kids
"It took his left-behind toothbrush to undo me," writes foster carer Rachel Hillestad in a post to the Love What Matters Facebook page.
![Adoption laws](http://web.archive.org./web/20170727093952im_/http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/n/v/9/j/image.related.landscape.300x200.gsjsyh.png/1478646568812.jpg)
Australian families still face a long wait for intercountry adoption
As the Dutch government considers halting intercountry adoptions, Australia has signed agreements with three new countries in the past year.
![<i></i>](http://web.archive.org./web/20170727093952im_/http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/j/r/4/k/image.related.landscape.300x200.gsjq6w.png/1478494057247.jpg)
What most people don't know about adopting a child
I have been through the adoption process twice now and I know that I am indeed one of the more fortunate ones.
![The new parents of four and the judge who made the adoptions official.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170727093952im_/http://www.essentialbaby.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/h/y/l/q/image.related.landscape.300x200.gshuu4.png/1478224206176.jpg)
The couple who adopted four children under two in one day
Kaley Carling and her husband had dreamed of having a family to call their own for many years.
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