NATURE OF ENTITY
Models of the parent support groups
3.1 The Australian Intercountry Adoption Network (“AICAN”) has formulated three models for non-government organisations currently working in intercountry adoption.1 These are described as follows:
- Type 1: fully accredited non-government adoption agency, characterised by involvement in all stages of intercountry adoption.
- Type 2: non-government organisation with program responsibilities, characterised by involvement in many phases of intercountry adoption, including establishment and management of programs and assistance with the processing of applications. Intercountry aid is frequently an arm of this type.
- Type 3: family support groups, characterised by a focus on information, social and support activities for prospective and formed adoptive families. Involvement with aid is common. Sometimes there is also involvement with the development of programs.
3.2 ACC is a Type 3 organisation. It is not involved in the development, administration and maintenance of adoption programs. ACC provides aid to various orphanages and children’s homes and in this role is concerned with fundraising activities. ACC is also a parent support group as opposed to an “adoption assistance organization” or an “adoption facilitator”. It provides a social forum for adoptive parents.
3.3 ACOB, AFC, ASIAC, CASA and ICA are Type 2 organisations.
3.4 AFC describes itself as “an adoption assistance organisation” not a parent support group. Applicants adopting through AFC join the sister organisation, ACC, for parenting support and fundraising.
3.5 ASIAC has been involved in the development of programs at the level of encouraging government approval, in principle, of particular programs.
3.6 Friends is somewhere between a Type 2 and a Type 3 organisation. Friends is involved in fund-raising and the giving of aid. It developed and maintains its program in Colombia. It is involved in the processing of applications but in a less formal way than most of the other groups. Friends describes itself as a “self-help” group, operated to help applicants to adopt from one particular orphanage.
Incorporation
3.7 The degrees of formality in their approaches to conducting intercountry adoption are to some extent reflected in whether or not a group has incorporated itself, although AFC is an exception to this. AFC is very structured and formally organised in its administration of its adoption programs and yet it is not incorporated.
3.8 Charitable associations, not formed to make profit for its members, can be incorporated under the Associations Incorporations Act 1984 (NSW). ACC, ACOB and ICA are incorporated associations registered under the Charitable Fundraising Act 1991 (NSW) (“the Charitable Fundraising Act”).
3.9 The Charitable Fundraising Act provides for individuals or organisations to obtain authority to conduct fundraising appeals for charitable purposes. A person (or a person on behalf of an organisation) who conducts a fundraising appeal without authority from the Minister given under the Charitable Fundraising Act is guilty of an offence.2 It should be noted, however, that certain activities are excluded from the meaning of “fundraising appeal”. In particular, an appeal by an organisation to (or the receipt of money or a benefit from) members of the organisation does not constitute a fundraising appeal for the purposes of the Charitable Fundraising Act.3
3.10 The objects of the Act are:
3.11 ASIAC is an incorporated association not yet registered under the Charitable Fundraising Act. AFC, CASA and Friends are unincorporated non-profit organizations.
MEMBERSHIP
3.12 Membership for all groups fluctuates over time but the figures below give some indication of the approximate size of each group.
3.13 In addition to having to join ACC, and having to remain members of ACC and subscribe to the ACC newsletter until their adoption is finalised in Australia, applicants can only proceed through AFC if they comply with AFC’s requirements. This includes providing AFC with all documents requested by it, allowing AFC to check all documents before they are dispatched to the sending countries and, in the case of applicants adopting older children, attending language classes.
Parent Support Group | Members | Conditions of membership | Membership fees |
ACC | 230 | Anyone agreeing to rules and supporting objects of association | $40 compulsory annual newsletter subscription |
ACOB | 60 | Adopting parents | $30 per annum |
AFC | Nil | Must also join ACC | Nil |
ASIAC | 306 families; 50 associate and honarary members | | $30 per annum |
CASA | 50 | No restrictions | Not known |
Friends | 160 | Attendance at all meetings (3 per year) until allocations made | $50 joining fee |
ICA | 180 plus 200 sponsors | Adopting parents | $25 joining fee
$30 per annum |
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MANAGEMENT
3.14 The following table sets out the management structure of each of the parent support groups.
Table 2: Management
Parent support group | Nature of managing body | Method of appointment | Term | Pre-requisites to holding office | Adoptive parents on managing body |
ACC | Committee - 7 members | Elected at AGM | 12 months | None | Yes; also applicabts to adopt |
ACOB | Board of 10 directors : policy an program decisions; President and Secretary: day-to-day management | Elected at AGM | 12 monthes | Knowledge of and experience in intercountry adoption | Yes (all) |
AFC | Coordinator, post-placement coordinator and clerical staff | Appointed by current coordinator | No specific term | None; applicants to adopt excluded from holding office | Yes (all) |
ASIAC | Committee (5 executive members; 5 general members); 6 sub-committees; 5 sponsorship secretaries; 5 adoption program coordinators | Elected at AGM | 12 months | None | Yes |
CASA | No formal management structure | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Friends | No formal management structure | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
ICA | Management Committee ("MC"): up to 10 persons; 5 sub-committees | MC eleced yearly; sub-committees appointed by MC | 12 months | Members in process of adopted excluded from MC; executive mambers must have held office for 3 years as general member | Yes (all) |
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3.15 In none of the groups do members in management positions receive fees or honoraria for their work.
3.16 To assist in the administration of its programs, AFC also consults a panel of relevant professional practitioners, on a fee-for-service basis, as necessary.
3.17 Some ASIAC committee members are also ex-officio members of the ASIAC Overseas Fund Committee. Some management roles are carried out by members seconded to the positions.
3.18 CASA does not have a formal management structure. Applicants are assisted by the coordinator. Adoptive parents returning from overseas are recruited from time to time on a voluntary, informal basis to give assistance.
3.19 Friends does not have a formal management structure. The group is now, and always has been, managed by two adoptive couples who themselves originally adopted from the orphanage with which the group has its program.
3.20 ICA’s sub-committees report to the Management Committee. The sub-committees are not elected but comprise members who volunteer their services. The Management Committee makes the final decision on any matter.
AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
3.21 What approach a group takes to the role of parent support groups in intercountry adoption and what the group considers to be of most importance can be gleaned from its aims and objectives. The aims and objectives indicate the nature and focus of the group’s activities.
3.22 Not all the groups have formalised their aims and objectives or reduced these to writing. The groups that have done so are ACC, ACOB, AFC, ASIAC and ICA.
3.23 The aims and objectives of ACC are set out in a constitution and are as follows:
The Association is voluntary, non-political and non-sectarian. Its objects are:
a) to advance and encourage the welfare of orphaned, abandoned or relinquished children in or from countries outside Australia;
b) to give financial and other assistance to orphanages, children’s homes, child care centres and other organisations in countries outside Australia concerned with the welfare of orphaned, abandoned or relinquished children;
c) to establish or assist with the establishment of orphanages, children’s homes, child care centres and other organisations in countries outside Australia;
d) to provide and facilitate continuing social contact between persons in Australia who are seeking to adopt or have adopted an orphaned, abandoned or relinquished child (or children) from countries outside Australia;
e) to provide and facilitate continuing social contact between children in Australia who have been adopted from countries outside Australia;
f) to affiliate and cooperate with and to encourage the formation or continuation of organisations with similar objects;
g) to acquire by purchase, hire, lease, exchange, gift or otherwise real and personal property of any kind and to deal with or dispose of such property in any manner it sees fit;
h) to do anything that may reasonably be regarded as incidental or conducive to or consequential upon the attainment of the forementioned objects of the Association including the raising of funds by any means.
3.24 ACOB has not recorded its aims and objectives in writing but these are formulated clearly nonetheless. ACOB has advised the Commission that they are:
- to facilitate the adoption of children from Brazil to Australia;
- to provide support, counselling, orientation and information to families who have adopted Brazilian children; and
- to provide funds for orphanages in Brazil as may be needed.
3.25 The aims and objectives of AFC are set out in a constitution and are as follows:
a) to promote the adoption of orphaned, abandoned or relinquished children from countries outside Australia into suitable homes and families in Australia where such homes or families cannot be found in those countries;
b) to give advice, support and assistance of any kind to persons in Australia seeking to adopt or who have adopted an orphaned, abandoned or relinquished child (or children) from countries outside Australia;
c) to advance and encourage the welfare of orphaned, abandoned or relinquished children in or from countries outside Australia;
d) to give financial and other assistance to orphanages, children’s homes, child care centres and other organisations in countries outside Australia concerned with the welfare of orphaned, abandoned or relinquished children;
e) to establish or assist with the establishment of orphanages, children’s homes, child care centres and other organisations in countries outside Australia concerned with the welfare of orphaned, abandoned or relinquished children;
f) to provide and facilitate continuing social contact between persons in Australia who are seeking to adopt or have adopted an orphaned, abandoned or relinquished child (or children) from countries outside Australia;
g) to provide and facilitate continuing social contact between children in Australia who have been adopted from countries outside Australia;
h) to affiliate and cooperate with and to encourage the formation or continuation of organisations with similar objects, in relation to South American and other countries;
i) to acquire by purchase, hire, lease, exchange, gift or otherwise real and personal property of any kind and to deal with or dispose of such property in any manner it sees fit;
j) to do anything that may reasonably be regarded as incidental or conducive to or consequential upon the attainment of the forementioned objects of the Association including the raising of funds by any means.
3.26 ASIAC has a constitution in which it sets out its objects, in clause 3:
OBJECTS
3. The objects for which [ASIAC] is established are:
(a) to operate as a voluntary, non-sectarian, non-profit association for the advancement of the health, education and welfare of children in or from developing countries (the principal object);
(b) to raise contributions from the members and the general public by way of donations or sponsorships or otherwise to finance [ASIAC’s] projects and activities in pursuance of its principal object;
(c) to establish and run or participate in child care centres in developing countries;
(d) to establish and run or participate in child sponsorship schemes in developing countries;
(e) to establish and run or participate in aid projects in developing countries;
(f) to promote and facilitate programmes of intercountry adoption and to establish and run or participate in the administration of intercountry adoption programmes;
(g) to support and educate adoptive families and to advance the health, education and welfare of adopted children.
3.27 ASIAC was a foundation member of AICAN and adopts and supports AICAN’s philosophy and objects. These are set out as follows:
3.1 The philosophy of the association is founded on the beliefs that:
(a) “the child, for the full and harmonious development of his or her personality, should grow up in a family environment, in an atmosphere of happiness, love and understanding” (Preamble to UN Convention on the Rights of the Child);
(b) where at all possible children should remain in their birth family;
(c) if this is not possible they should be placed in a suitable family in their birth country;
(d) if this is not possible, intercountry adoption into an approved family is preferable to institutional life in the birth country;
(e) intercountry adoption is a positive way of forming families;
(f) organisations involved in intercountry adoption have a responsibility to attempt to support in-country alternatives for children without family support;
(g) intercountry adoption can best take place in a climate of genuine mutual understanding, respect and co-operation between nations.
3.2 The objects for which the Association is established are:
(a) to operate as a voluntary, non-sectarian, non-profit association for the advancement of the health, education and welfare of children in or from countries other than Australia who are deprived of a family environment (the principal object);
(b) to improve policies and practices in Australian intercountry adoption using the knowledge and experience of members of the Association by:
- the exchange of information within the Association;
- the provision of information to all who are interested or involved in the adoption;
- the coordination of members’ views in order to improve consultation processes with Australian governments;
(c) to encourage adoptive families’ interest in and understanding of the culture of other countries;
(d) to support intercountry aid and co-operation focused on the protection and care of children separated from their parents and the prevention of family breakdown.
3.28 ICA has recorded its aims and objectives as follows:5
Aims
1.1 To assist children within the developing countries of the world.
1.2 To develop and implement adoption programs in developing countries of the world in order to assist prospective adopting parents.
Objectives
1.1 To arrange and implement sponsorship programmes for children in need in developing countries.
1.2 To assist children in maintaining the institutions that provide care for children in need in developing countries.
1.3 To provide qualified Australian Nursing Sisters to work in the above institutions.
1.4 To maintain and operate various orphanages in South East Asia.
1.5 To provide information and assistance to prospective adoptive parents.
1.6 To provide pre and post adoptive support programs for adoptive families.
CONDITIONS PLACED ON THE GROUPS’ ACTIVITIES
By DOCS
3.29 Private adoption agencies like Centacare, Barnardos and the Anglican Adoption Agency are accountable to the Director-General of DOCS and their functions are governed by Regulations under the Adoption Act. In contrast, parent support groups are not licensed and are not governed by the Adoption Act. As a result, they are not legally accountable to any authority and the nature of and limits on their functions and activities are largely self-determined. However, DOCS has communicated to the parent support groups that it has several requirements in the operation of intercountry adoption that it would like the groups to satisfy.
3.30 DOCS has stipulated that all notifications of allocations must be forwarded by the sending country to it, rather than the parent support group. At present, DOCS is largely reliant on the parent support groups to communicate this requirement to the sending countries and to ask for their cooperation. In most instances, the notifications of allocations are still coming to the parent support groups and DOCS have little choice but to ask the groups to forward the notifications on to it and stipulate that DOCS must approve an allocation prior to the applicants being informed of it. However, even in this, some applicants admitted to DOCS that they already knew of the allocation from their parent support group when DOCS contacted them to advise of, and discuss, an allocation. This is discussed in more detail in Chapter 6.
3.31 DOCS also requires that confidentiality of all adoption documents be maintained. Issues of information storage and confidentiality are discussed in Chapter 4.
3.32 Lastly, parent support groups must provide details of their programs to applicants and to DOCS. All the groups provide extensive information to applicants through formal information sessions, newsletters, and by simply answering applicants’ questions. DOCS does not know many of the details of AFC’s or ICA’s programs.
3.33 In order to try and ensure that its conditions are met, DOCS corresponds with the groups by letter, phone and fax and holds meetings with them. From 1986, meetings were held every six weeks but the frequency was reduced to every three months when attendance by the groups dropped off. The Director-General of DOCS attends the Annual General Meetings of the parent support groups.
3.34 However, there is no real enforcement mechanism because DOCS’s requirements of the parent support groups have no legislative basis. Unlike licensed adoption agencies, private adoption groups involved in intercountry adoption are not required to be supervised by DOCS. Three parent support groups sit on the New South Wales Committee on Adoption and Permanent Care Inc which these groups argue amounts to a form of supervision. Represented in the New South Wales Committee on Adoption and Permanent Care Inc are all the adoption and permanent care agencies in New South Wales, as well as adoption support groups. There is also the facility for individual representation from, for example, adoptees, birth parents and adoptive parents. The fundamental purposes of the New South Wales Committee on Adoption and Permanent Care Inc is to address and consider matters affecting adoption and permanent care; to share information; to keep up-to-date with information from consumers of, and those affected by, adoption and permanent care services; and to ensure “best practice” standards in the agencies.
3.35 AFC has a written “agreement” with DOCS, and is the only parent support group with such an agreement. The “agreement”, dated 27 April 1992, is entitled “Process of Applying to Adopt a Child from an Overseas Country” and is signed by the Director-General of DOCS. This document was prepared by AFC and sets out, as its title describes, the procedure for adopting from overseas, detailing the respective roles of DOCS and AFC. It allows release of the home study and post-placement reports to AFC and forwarding of those documents to the sending country by AFC. Other than providing that DOCS will receive notice of an allocation from a sending country, the document does not impose conditions or restrictions on AFC’s operations. The roles that are reserved to DOCS in the “agreement” are the roles which DOCS must carry out under the Adoption Regulation 1995 (NSW), such as receiving the expression of interest to adopt and assessing applicants’ suitability.
3.36 DOCS imposes no conditions on ACC, being a group which does not participate in the adoption process.
By the sending country
3.37 The sending countries do not impose conditions specifically on the operation of the parent support groups. However, each of the sending countries has legislation and policies governing adoption, including documentation required to be sent by the receiving countries. The parent support groups need to comply with these requirements in the administration of their programs and the processing of their members’ applications to adopt.
3.38 Specific examples of some conditions imposed by the sending countries are as follows:
- Brazil requires that ACOB be authorised by DOCS to be a parent support group.
- CASA’s contacts in Chile have indicated to CASA that they prefer to deal directly with CASA rather than with DOCS or the applicants.
By the groups themselves
3.39 None of the groups has formulated a written statement of adoption practice or code of ethics by which its operations are governed. Some of the groups have Memoranda and Articles of Association which set out their aims and objectives, as quoted above. However these achieve a different purpose from a document which purports to set parameters for the way in which applications to adopt will be processed, services will be offered to members, information and documentation will be handled, and so forth.
3.40 Some conditions which groups have considered important to impose on themselves are described below. That is not to say that these are the only requirements with which a particular group seeks to comply; the ones mentioned below are the ones nominated by a group as having particular importance:
- ACOB board members must keep themselves up-to-date with circumstances in Brazil and in adoption generally.
- AFC board members must support the objectives and rules of the organisation.
- ASIAC requires that its Board of Management, and any others involved in the processing of applications, ensure confidentiality of documents and information; this aspect is discussed in more detail in Chapter 4.
INTERSTATE APPLICATIONS
3.41 Most of the groups accept applications for membership from interstate applicants. These applicants are assessed and their applications are processed by the State welfare departments in their own States, rather than by DOCS. The parent support groups in New South Wales will, however, place the applicants on that group’s own programs for allocation of a child through those programs. The parent support groups treat interstate applications to adopt differently from New South Wales applications only in so far as is necessary to conform with the slightly different requirements and procedures of different States. Also, obviously, contact with interstate members will be almost entirely by phone, fax and mail, rather than face-to-face. Before travelling to Sri Lanka to collect their allocated child, ICA interstate members must attend a three hour briefing in Sydney on the Sri Lankan culture and customs, appropriate dress, and so forth.
3.42 Interstate members are geographically limited in their ability to fundraise but generally they are encouraged, in the same way that New South Wales members are, to sponsor children and donate to the sending countries.
3.43 AFC has written “agreements” with the welfare departments of the Northern Territory and the ACT similar to the agreement it has with DOCS, described above.
3.44 The following table shows the parent support groups which accept interstate applications.
Table 3: Interstate applications
Parent support group | Acceptance of interstate applications | Activities monitored by interstate welfare dept. |
AFC | Yes | Not aware of any formal monitoring |
ACOB | Yes | Yes |
ASIAC | Yes | Yes |
CASA | Yes | Not known |
Friends | Yes | Yes |
ICA | Very rarely | Yes |
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FOOTNOTES
1. AICAN Accreditation of NGOs Involved in Intercountry Adoption (Draft Discussion Paper, 21 November 1991) at 7.
2. Adoption of Children Act 1965 (NSW) s 9(1)
3. s 5(3)(b).
4. s 3.
5. Set out in a document forwarded to DOCS dated 27 August 1993.
