The Victorian government has announced a review into how to best legislate for same-sex adoption in Victoria.
"This is not whether adoption equality will happen - this is about the best way to make adoption equality a reality for the thousands of Victorian families and who live in a grey legal haze," said Victoria's minister for equality, Martin Foley.
Legalising same-sex adoption in Victoria would bring the state into line with NSW, WA, Tasmania and the ACT.
The review has been asked to examine developments in other states, case law and findings from the Victorian Law Reform Commission 2007 report on adoption and reproductive technology.
Minister Foley said the government would also be moving to eventually address the issue of same sex couples adopting children conceived through IVF.
Anna Viola said a change in the law would have far-reaching legal and social implications for families like hers.
"We are a family unit, and we operate as a family unit. I met my partner when my daughter was one-year-old and so she has been and always be my daughter's parent and now that can be legally absolute," she said.
"Even though for us it's a given and for my daughter she knows who her family is. We are currently in a situation where Belle isn't able to be my daughter's advocate our guardian, have all the rights and protections on the relationship," she said.
"It would be great to speak of our family the way it is. The reality of our family is that we are unit. And this law change would mean that we could then legally become that unit."
At least one hundred families stand to be benefit from a change in the state laws, said Rainbow Families Council co-convenor, Brian Barry.
He said campaigners have been waiting years for same sex adoption to be legalised after achieving success with getting the names of two mothers on their child's birth certificate.
"It's about kids who are coming into their teenage years having that recognition now that they have the same rights, their family has the same rights as - in some cases - their sibling, ironically; but also the kids next door, the kids at school," Brian Barry said.
But barriers still remain.
"We do have to ensure that the review does fulfil the promises of the government and there other frontiers still to address."
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