Adoption rates plummet: report

A baby holds a finger of an adult

Adoption rates down: Most babies adopted in Australia now come from overseas countries (www.sxc.hu: Jeremy Brown)

There has been a dramatic decline in the number of adoptions in Australia over the past few decades, according to a new report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

Adoptions have fallen from an annual peak of nearly 10,000 in the early 1970s to fewer than 600 in recent years.

In the 2007-08 financial year there were just 440 adoptions.

The report says the decline is due to a fall in the number of Australian children available for adoption.

The majority of children who are now adopted come from overseas, with China, South Korea and the Philippines being the most popular countries.

Report author Nicole Hunter says nearly all local and overseas adoptions were of children aged under five.

"What we've seen is inter-country adoption, which is where children are adopted from overseas, has emerged as the most common type of adoption in Australia," she said.

"In the 2007-08 financial year we found that 61 per cent of all children adopted in Australia were born overseas, and this is a substantial increase from 6 per cent 25 years ago."

Most 'known' adoptions, usually by step-parents or carers, were of children older than 10.

More than three quarters of local adoption agreements last year allowed for some form of contact with the biological parents.

Ms Hunter says a number of factors have lead to the lower numbers of Australian children available for adoption.

"There's been a range of broader social trends such as medical social and legislative factors that have contributed to the trend of decreasing numbers of Australian children being adopted," she said.

"Things like more effective birth control and the emergence of family planning centres and sex education classes."