Foxy, "apply the same strict criteria to all couples wanting to adopt"

What criteria? You are careful not to mention what criteria should apply.

There will always be core criteria and agency preferred criteria. There are very few children available for adoption. In that case the priority should be what?

I believe that no overseas country will accept an adoption application from an homosexual couple. Are they all wrong and if so why?

There are far more couples wanting to adopt than babies/children to be
adopted. If you asked a child if he/she wanted a mum & dad or two dads
or two mums, what do you think he or she would choose ?

The child would have seen other children with their mums and dads and
would want the same for themselves.
They would not indulge in a round of political correctness.

The best thing for a child to be adopted is to be placed in the most
natural situation possible, ie with a mother and father.
Especially if there are other children in the family.

If I were the boss I would expect my subordinates to keep me appraised
of situations like this as far as I can see most public servants are
scared stiff of surprises.

Paul quoted;
"apply the same strict criteria to all couples wanting to adopt"

and there is the application of political correctness over and above
the best for a child.

Nothing more to be said. Petards come to mind.

One of the tradies I use is a fine a man as anyone could ever find, and his wife is the same. Through working hard to build up the business they left their run for children a bit late, not realising that they might experience some fertility difficulties (on which they independently spent a lot of money, and time of course). Now they are told they are unlikely to adopt because of age.

I wonder if the Australian population would agree if available policy and criteria put a homosexual couple -who presumably are fertile apart from the obvious impediment- ahead of them because the homosexual couple were (say) marginally younger, or were of the same age but ahead of them in the queue?

I realise that Foxy might see it all as black and white, but that is presumably because the criteria she has in mind confirms her own subjectivity and value judgements.

Beach, that's right "Now they are told they are unlikely to adopt because of age." Some friends of ours tried to adopt some years ago and because he was over 35 at the time they were told the same thing.
What do you think of a family member, like a sister, handing over a child to another sister for adoption/raising? It happens in my partners community, years ago an aunt wanted her to hand over one of her children, however she would not do it, others did.

Butch,
I am with you on this.

Same sex unions are not the same as different sex unions and homosexuals should simply find and use another word. Marriage means a union between male and female. Wordsmiths would easily come up with a suitable word/s.

I think the only reason for using the word marriage is that homosexuals want to project their sexual activities in a more acceptable way.

I don't care what they do, but should leave the word marriage out of it. What's wrong with the word union?

The "strict criteria" I referred to
in cases of adoption for couples is set by each
State and Territory and it also has its own
legislation governing local and intercountry adoption.
I had assumed
people of any intelligence would realise what was
meant by "strict criteria."
It's not brain-surgery afterall.
Family law in Australia with regards to children is
based on what is considered to be in the best interest
of the child. However, anyone interested
in the specifics of the criteria can
Google it for themselves using the subject heading,
"Adoption in Australia." The assessment process is very
intense and covers a wide range of conditions that have
to be met.

Things like one's ability to be physically
and mentally able to care for a child until the child turns
18. Their ability to provide a suitable family environment.
That they are of good repute and haven't been found
guilty of certain offences. Their age. Are they eligible to
adopt a child? and the list goes on.

This is just one of the broader links available on the
web and it covers same-sex couples as well:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adoption_in_Australia

As I stated earlier,
each State and Territory also has its own legislation governing
local and inter-country adoption matters within each State and
Territory. In addition to the Adoption Acts, each State has
corresponding regulations. As of 2011 Tasmania and South
Australia are currently undertaking parliamentary reviews of
their adoption laws.