Adopting locally within Australia - why so much tension?

After reading other blogs regarding issues on adoption in Australia, I am suprised at the amount of anger out there  over this topic.  Who said adoption in Australia is dead?  This is living proof that there are more people than we care to think about who have ongoing issues with not only the processes of adoption in our country but also the ongoing affects adoption places on individuals, whether it be someone wanting to adopt locally, someone who has been adopted or a birth parent who wants to know about the child they relinquished all those years ago.
Firstly, I think the need for accurate information is of the upmost importance.  There appears to be too many inaccuracy's and this to often leads to placing doubt in ones mind whether the options they are looking at are worthy of been pursued.
As an adoptive parent to a now four year old ( so it wasn't that long ago we went down the path of adoption), we know only to well the comlexities, the unknowns and the doubters that discourage those who contemplate adopting within Australia.  But if we had have listened to everything we were told, we wouldn't have our daughter; that's the stark reality.
My advise to anyone considering adoption (here in Australia) is to go ahead and contact your local adoption and permanent care team in your state and find out when the next Information session is planned.  The information session will give you an overview of what is involved in adopting; such as open adoption issues, the birth parents involvement, the processes, what is expected of you as a potential adoptive parent.  But the really big thing to remember when attending an Information session is not to be put off the idea.  If you really want a chance at adopting, see the process through no matter how hard it gets, how time consuming, how drawn out, how little chance you think you've got...SEE IT THROUGH.

Support Group Reforming

A strange thing happened this week. 
While talking with my mum about my recently completed manuscript on Adoption matters; she remembered seeing an advertisment in the local paper about an Adoption support group wanting to reform in my home town. 
I couldn't beleive it!  For so long I have wanted to become a part in helping out in some way, whether it was being a guest speaker on local adoption matters or just volunteering with an adoption organisation such as VANISH (visit link).
Anyway, after a long day travelling to Melbourne and back home, I didn't think I would make the first meeting in time.  Arriving slightly late, I formed a small but comfortable group where we were lucky enough to have two representatives from VANISH attend and help judicate the meeting.  
We shared our own personal experiences with adoption and how adoption played a role in our lives.  Suprisingly, all of us had been affected through adoption in different ways.  One lady was a birth mother, another gentleman discovered he was adopted in his adulthood, and me - well off course I am adopted and also an adoptive parent.
I am really looking forward to our next meeting, and perhaps finding a way to become more involved with VANISH.