The Ethiopia program was Australia's fourth largest inter-country adoption program, after China, the Philippines and Thailand. It was the only such program with an African country and has seen 621 Ethiopian children come to Australia since it began in 1990.
But the number of adoptions has fallen in recent years and the program's closure reflects a worldwide shift away from inter-country adoption towards a greater focus on in-country care.
Last year, 93 Ethiopian adoption applications were approved by Australian authorities but only 15 placements were made, compared with 72 in 2003-2004. International Social Service (ISS) statistics show a dramatic worldwide decline from 43,142 inter-country adoptions in 2004 to 27,552 in 2010.
“As developing countries become richer, they are now starting to prioritise adoption within their own countries,” says Chris Owens, media spokesperson for the Attorney-General's department. “It's such a difficult environment because we know that so many parents want to adopt, but at the same time, we're not going to arm-wrestle a country to give up kids when that country actually wants those kids to stay.”
An anti-adoption culture?
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Adoptive parents and advocates say the Attorney-General's decision reflects an anti-adoption culture in Australia, which has historical roots in the forced adoptions of the Stolen Generation and Forgotten Children before the 1970s.
A 2005 parliamentary inquiry into overseas adoption in Australia found there was, in fact, a general attitude against inter-country adoption in most jurisdictions, ranging from “indifference or lack of support to outright hostility.”
“Past practices have left a lasting impression and created our country's distorted perspective on adoption,” actor/director and adoptive mother Debora-Lee Furness said at a National Adoption Awareness Week (NAAW) event last year.
As founding patron of NAAW, she described her own experience navigating the adoption system as impersonal, “traumatic, demoralising and dismissive.”
“We need an attitudinal change within the system,” she said. “Because there's about to be another generation of lost children and this is a global dilemma.”
Groups like AACASA and Hope for Children say that generation in Ethiopia is at risk right now. AACASA says it will continue to lobby the federal government to have the adoption program reinstated and hopes for a change of heart within the department.
The Australian Government has ended its agreement with its partner transition home for children in Ethiopia but will continue to support the country “in protecting the best interests of children domestically” with a $45 million AusAID commitment to maternal and child health initiatives. It says it will periodically monitor circumstances in Ethiopia and in the international adoption environment, and continue discussions about possible new inter-country adoption programs, such as one with South Africa.
Kellie and Antonio Teixeira say any changes will be too late for them, but they hope that by the time their own children are grown up, things might be different. Kellie says her daughter, Metaya, asked her: “So now what happens when I want to adopt my child?”
“Because in her 5-year-old mind that's how she belongs - she understands 'that's how I came into your world.'”
