http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s1113725.htm

Govt defends adoption costs
The New South Wales Government has defended itself against Opposition claims it
is taking advantage of residents who adopt overseas babies.

The Department of Community Services is the only agency in the state currently
offering inter-country adoptions and is proposing to increase its fee for an
adoption to nearly $10,000 from July 1.

People concerned about the new arrangements will attend a meeting in Sydney
tomorrow.

Community Services Minister Carmel Tebbutt says the price increase reflects the
rising costs that are involved, and will make it more competitive for new
service providers to enter the market.

"The department will be looking at all the submissions that come in as part of
that consultation process," she said.

"But under the legislation now, new service providers can come into the field
and if the department is offering inter-country adoptions at a substantially
reduced cost of providing the service, then that's going to be unfair to those
new entrants."



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A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown