In August, the GPV/KCV Board decided to write to all federal members of parliament to outline concerns with the approach to adoption being taken in NSW. Of particular concern was the move to advertise children for adoption on a website. The GPV/KCV Board held firm to its view that it is not appropriate to fast-track adoption and that all options for keeping children within their biological family must be exhausted before they are placed outside the family.
GPV/KCV also lodged a submission to the Law Reform Commission’s review of adoption legislation in Victoria.
This campaign is designed to put pressure on the government and DHHS to make the placement of children with family members a priority, and to remove adoption by strangers from the hierarchy of options for out-of-home care.
GPA/GPV has written an open letter in response to the Breaking Barriers report released by the Australian government’s standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs on 27 November 2018.