Q&A: Breaking the barriers around child adoption

During National Adoption Awareness Week, SBS speaks to actor Deborra-Lee Furness about her efforts to raise child adoption awareness in Australia.

Over 10 years ago, Ms Furness and fellow actor Hugh Jackman walked out of their first adoption meeting in Australia, describing the experience as “traumatising and demoralising.”

“It was horrible, there were just so many roadblocks,” says Furness. “We didn't even make it to the tea and cookies part of the meeting.” They returned to the United States and adopted their two children, Oscar (12) and Ava (7).

This week is the fifth anniversary of National Adoption Awareness Week (NAAW), a campaign founded bv Furness in 2008 to get people talking about adoption.

What's your take on the public mood around adoption in Australia at the moment?

You know I think finally - it's been some years - but I feel that now it's becoming dinner party conversation. Now it's in the bigger community, people are standing up and going 'wow' and are very aware of the situation, very aware that there are families wanting to adopt and kids that need to be adopted, and there's bureaucracy stuck in the middle. I think that people are getting that.

Is adoption something that people feel they can now talk about?

Yeah, totally and that's been our goal since we started NAAW. It's been 'Let's talk about adoption,' and now I think it's much more out there. For years and years no one talked about it and it just wasn't getting any media attention. There really has been this anti-adoption culture in Australia and people going through the process were legally not allowed to speak to the press.

You have spoken about an anti-adoption culture in Australia. Has that changed over the last 5-6 years?

Legislatively no, but I'm thrilled to say that Barnados, who are the people in Sydney who do local adoption, have now come to work with us. I always said: we're about trying to find families for kids, whether they're from Nigeria or Parramatta.

I met with one of the ladies that works at Barnados and she said to me: “there's a lot of energy out there.” She was in Gosford on the weekend, meeting with social workers who she says are very informed - but no one is hearing about their advocacy, about the work that they're doing in the adoption space.

What is happening now though is that it's in the ecosystem; people are talking about it and the more you have unity with all the different groups who are stakeholders in this issue, the more you get them talking together; that's when you get creativity, that's when you get energy. And that's when, hopefully, the good sense pervades and we can actually push it further.

I feel this year, after five years of talking about adoption, we're seeing a really big jump and I think we're going to see some changes. I speak to people advocating for adoption in America and they tell me that over there, it took 10 years before legislative change. We're five years in, and I'm very competitive, I'm hoping we can get it through before they did.

You say it's been a positive week but there was one article in The Conversation this week attacking 'the dirty tactics of the adoption lobby,' saying orphanages are often created to feed the adoption industry. What's your response?

You know, she's been the only negativity we've had in this whole week. I found her heading: 'The politics of orphans and the dirty tactics of the adoption lobby' so offensive, so negative and this is exactly what I'm talking about when I say an anti-adoption culture. I read from her article that she does work within the system and I mean, what hope have we got when we've got someone in there like that?

The people that are involved in National Adoption Awareness Week are about finding families for children. To use the words 'dirty tactics' – who needs dirty tactics to engage in trying to do something like this? You know, so much of her argument she talks about us being misinformed and apparently because she has a PHD it entitles her to have the reality on the situation.

I would love to see the highly researched list of the dirty tactics she writes about because I would love to know what these dirty tactics are. She uses the extreme examples of the negatives of adoption in her article, and I address that by saying 'don't throw the baby out with the bath water.'

Of course, as if anyone would want to be involved with unethical adoption. I agree with her on a lot of her points which are that we're not putting enough into post adoption services, we need to get our facts right - there are many things. But I believe that the negative atmosphere around her piece is exactly what is pervasive within the system.

You've described your own experience navigating Australia's adoption system as traumatic and demoralising. What needs to happen at a system level to make adoption more accessible for people?

I think we need a leader. I mean even the lady at Barnados who's been involved this year was like: 'Who's in charge?' I don't know, who's in charge. These are the questions, people have so many questions and don't know where to get the answers.

There is no leadership here. It needs someone to drive this ship, it needs to make this issue a priority. It needs a champion. And at the moment, all the States are on a different page, it's not Federally run. I'm hoping that all the states can actually meet together, maybe for a summit, and let's all talk. If we disagree, let's put it out there and start working on it. That's what we say: 'Let's talk about adoption', because we're not going to get anywhere unless we do and unless we can shine a light on the issues.

Is it just as hard to adopt an Australian child as it is to adopt a child from another country?

It's pretty much hard to adopt a child period. Some of the stories I hear of people's experiences trying to navigate the system and I'm just like, 'Wow, I can't believe that this is happening in Australia.'

What are your thoughts on the recent closure of the Ethiopian adoption program?

Well I went to the website after it was closed and tried to ascertain why it was closed and what I ascertained was that it was just too hard. That's basically what I got from it. And I know from the Ethiopian side that they had thought that they had a very good program and a good relationship with Australia so I think it came as a shock to them.

I met with Nicola Roxon recently and asked to reconsider, so I hope that talks are still happening there. I think that someone from Ethiopia should come out here and meet with Nicola and let's keep the conversation going. Because one of the countries with the greatest need and with the greatest number of vulnerable children is Ethiopia.

I know of families that have been in this program waiting for eight years and they've just been shut down, that's it - it's finished. I know the community is very, very upset about and I think it happened very, very quickly. I'm going to continue to advocate that they reconsider and that they reopen the program.

The Attorney General's department say inter-country adoption is declining worldwide because there are now more opportunities for children to access alternative care in their birth countries. Do you think this is realistic in the case of Ethiopia?

I would love to believe that. I have been to Ethiopia, I have seen the poverty, I've seen the infrastructure and also the culture. I don't think that adoption is actually part of their culture. And when they're barely struggling to feed their own children, how can you take in another child?

Look, I'm all for economic development, in-country development and keeping families together. To give up a child because of poverty is just heinous to me. But I've seen the reality and I know that there are so many kids that need a family. You know, I'd love to think that it could be done within Ethiopia but I can't see that is a realistic path.