Event and Ticketing Details
Dates & Times
Tuesday 12 November
8:00 AM - 8:45 AM
Adoption has been practiced in various ways in almost every community and culture throughout history, yet in Australia it has never been more difficult to adopt a child. Why is it easier for prospective parents to find donor eggs, donor sperm, embryos and surrogate mothers than it is to adopt an abandoned child from an international orphanage? Is it likely to be easier or more difficult for prospective parents to adopt in future? And what influence does government have in international adoption?
In this special breakfast edition of the Fifth Estate, Sally Warhaft is joined by international guests Deborra-lee Furness, acclaimed actress and founder of National Adoption Awareness Week, and Dr Jane Aronson, paediatrician, adoption specialist, and founder of Worldwide Orphans, to discuss national and international adoption policy, programs and problems.
Featuring
Jane Aronson
Dr Jane Aronson is a paediatrician, adoption medicine specialist and the founder and CEO of Worldwide Orphans, a non-profit organisation that provides direct services to orphaned children globally.
She is on faculty at Cornell University, Columbia University and Mt Sinai School of Medicine. Her many recognitions include the Angel in Adoption Award, Glamour Woman of the Year, Honored Alumna of Valley Stream North High School, Hunter College Hall of Fame, and Distinguished Alumna from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
Aronson is the author of Carried in Our Hearts: The Gift of Adoption: Inspiring Stories of Families Created Across Continents.
Deborra-lee Furness
Deborra-lee Furness is an internationally acclaimed actor as well as a passionate supporter of children and defender of their human rights across the globe. She founded National Adoption Awareness Week in Australia when she recognised the great need to address what needs to be done in serving abandoned and vulnerable children around the world.
She is Patron of the Lighthouse Foundation for displaced children in Melbourne Australia, Patron of the Fight Cancer foundation Australia and Patron of International Adoption Families for Queensland.
As a World Vision ambassador, Deborra-lee has travelled through Asia and Africa to help raise awareness of the issues surrounding poverty and the enormity of the Global Orphan Crisis – most recently travelling as part of a delegation with President Bill Clinton throughout Africa to witness the initiatives crated by the Clinton Global Initiative.
Deborra-lee is Executive Director for the Worldwide Orphans Foundation Australia and was honoured at the Worldwide Orphans Gala in New York City for her work in advocacy for vulnerable children. She received the first 2013 National Angel in Adoption Award from the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) in Washington DC in October. The CCAI’s Angels in Adoption Program honors individuals, couples and organisations that have made extraordinary contributions on behalf of children in need of families.
It is her passion that children all over the world be given every chance to live a fulfilled and joyous life and achieve their full potential.
Sally Warhaft
Sally Warhaft is a Melbourne broadcaster, anthropologist and writer. She is the host of The Fifth Estate, the Wheeler Centre’s live series focusing on journalism, politics, media, and international relations, and The Leap Year ...