Adoption agencies see risks in tender

Adoption agencies see risks in tender
Adele Horin
December 29, 2008

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THE Department of Community Services will transfer most of its responsibility for overseas adoptions to a non-profit agency as part of a plan to outsource more of its functions.
In a process similar to a tender, the department has called for agencies to submit an "expression of interest" to take on the work, which includes assessing the suitability of prospective adoptive parents, running training courses and liaising with 14 countries and dozens of overseas orphanages.
But the most likely candidates - three agencies that now manage adoptions of locally born children - appear unwilling to step in, saying the proposed model is too risky.
A big barrier, the Herald was told, was the Government's insistence on agencies charging parents hefty fees to cover the cost of the service and the lack of continuing government funding.
Jane West, principal officer at Anglicare Adoption Services, said the agency did not intend to submit an expression of interest.
Barnardo's Find-a-Family, a specialist local adoptions agency, also would not register interest, said its senior manager, Elizabeth Cox.
Ms West said: "DOCS is providing the successful tenderer with start-up funding, but after that it's full cost recovery. It's too risky when you can't guarantee how many children will be placed. It's a huge job."
Prospective adoptive parents have long criticised the department for being tardy and insensitive in how it has managed overseas adoptions, and some have said it was philosophically opposed to Third World adoptions.
However, recently the department was widely acknowledged to have improved.
At the same time, it has become increasingly keen to outsource the work. Its former director-general, Neil Shepherd, has said overseas adoptions are not the department's core business.
An inquiry on child protection that reported last month supported the department's move to focus on child protection and secure more permanent placements for children in foster care.
The department introduced fees of almost $10,000 for overseas adoptions in 2004, but that was about $1000 less than the full cost recovery recommended in a report by KPMG.
Karleen Gribble, of Families With Children from China, said: "This proposal comes with no ongoing money for agencies and no support to make it happen. I'm concerned that an agency may not have the resources to put in what is required.
"Children coming into the country have already had a terrible time. It compounds their situation if they're placed with families who are not suitable."
About 1050 people are at some stage of the overseas adoption process with the department.
The release of the expression-of-interest documents so close to Christmas and with a closing date of February 11 has taken agencies by surprise.
Maureen Eagles, director of children and youth services at CatholicCare, which manages local adoptions, said the time frame was unfortunate.
"I'm not even sure if our board meets in January, and this is a very important decision to consider."
The sole organisation likely to register interest, Australian Families for Children, has no permanent staff yet. But its executive director, Ricky Brisson, said the organisation had supported inter-country adoptive families and children for 25 years.
Working with DOCS, it had facilitated adoptions from Colombia and previously from Costa Rica, Bolivia, Chile and Peru. It had applied for the necessary accreditation. She described the move as a step in the right direction despite problems over the fees and timing.
This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/12/28/1230399045719.html

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