Local Adoption / Permanaent Care - Where to begin?

As each state is different I have put together a list of websites for the different states. These websites will be able to answer any of the initial questions you may have about the process.


VIC

Adoption and Permanent Care services in Victoria: Adoption and Permanent Care - State Government of Victoria, Australia, Department of Human Services


NSW

fostering & adoption


QLD

Adoption, Child Safety Services


SA

Adoption, DFC South Australia


TAS

Department of Health and Human Services Tasmania - Adoption and Information


WA

Department for Child Protection - Adoption


NT

Health & Families - Adoption


ACT

DHCS - Adoptions

Hi

I am a permanent care Mum of two little girls. They came to me when they were 16 months and 28 months

This is now nearly 2 and a half years ago and there has not been one day of regret. I recommend it to
anyone - yes there are challenges but to help children already in the world having a stable and lving home
can only be a positive thing.

Hi,

I'm new to this site and have been reading stories of permanent care. I would be very interested in any information to my many questions (just two below to start :lol:)...

1) How long does the whole process take from start to finish?
2) Is it best to keep your scope open with ragard to what age you would take, sibling groups etc?


My husband and I have had 9 heartbreaking failed atempts at IVF to no avail. My sister has also offered to be egg donor but she is only 24 and I have been warned that she may be too young. Anyone out there have any info on this.

If we went down the egg donor path with someone we did not know..how hard is this?

Hopeful, Fi

Hi Fi, Welcome to Belly Belly although I'm sorry you've had such a rough time which has led you here. Hopefully lil chookie or others can give you more info on permanent care. I did look into it after years of TTC/IVF and if we hadn't been successful with our egg donor we may have gone down that path, but as you can see from my ticker we had success with my sister as our egg donor. As that is off topic to this part of the forum I'll got look for some relevant threads on egg donation for you to look at and link them in here. Be back soon!
xx

Making the decision to look for/use and Egg Donor
What's involved in donating your eggs

Also check out the donor forum more broadly here where you may want to ask your above question again and also consider joining Aussie Egg Donors private website.

The quick answer is if your sister is willing she could be your donor. While clinics/Drs like donors to have completed their families it is not mandatory and I know of people donating before they've had children themselves.

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1) How long does the whole process take from start to finish?

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Unfortuantely there is no one answer to this question. We entered the Local Adoption Program (LA) and it took us about 2 years from our first information evening to the placement of our daughter. That is a pretty fast timeframe, I know of people who have been waiting on the list for years. Our wait was 7 months from our formal panel approval.

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2) Is it best to keep your scope open with ragard to what age you would take, sibling groups etc?

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My advice would be to start this process with some idea what you want. If you are not sure when you start the assessments with Social Workers, they will make you really think about this. When you do your Permanent Care Education Group you will find out alot of information, which will help you make the right decision for you. It doesnt really work that if you say we'll take anything you will be chosen quicker and I totally understand when you have been through much heartache, you just want to have a family.

Feel free to ask as many questions as you need to!

:)

Hi Lil Chookie and Dusty,

Thanks so much ladies for your replies and pionting me in the right direction.

I think you have just confirmed this is the path to take. Kind of excited about a new direction since IVF was such a disappointing one.

Can also make mention that reading these forums helps so much to realise that you are not alone in this situation.

Thanks again, Fi

I am going through the process at the moment. I am going through a non government agency and they say it takes around 6-9 months.

Hi Lolly,

Can I check, is that 6 - 9 months to do the application process before you are approved to go on the registrar? Or is that 6 - 9 months for the whole process?

cheers, Fi

Fi - 6-9 months to get approval. If your going with DOC's I think you will get a child quite quickly after approval. If your going through an NGA it may take a bit longer as they try to match you with a child that will fit in with your situation a bit better. I have been going down this road with an NGA since September last year. We have finished the course and had the interviews and they have now just contacted our referee's last week. Things are moving but it does happen very slowly.

Can you adopt locally in Australia ? Or is that fairly rare?