Jackie ‘O’ Henderson has opened up about wanting to adopt anther child, but not being able to because she is ”too old”.
The radio host, 42, who conceived daughter Kitty through IVF in 2010, spoke about her situation and declining fertility rates on her show this morning with co-host Kyle Sandilands.
“Adoption is so hard in this country this is half the problem as well… it takes a long time to cut through all that red tape,” she said on-air.
“I would never be able to adopt because I’m out of range.”
To which Kyle asked, “You’re too old?”
“Yeah,” she replied. “I would love to to be honest. I would love to be able to adopt and I would but I wouldn’t be allowed to.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Family & Community Services tells marie claire there is no upper age limit for a prospective adoptee within NSW.
“The NSW criteria for assessment of adoption applicants does include: the person’s health, including emotional, physical and mental health and the person’s age and maturity. But there is no age limit as such.
“For people looking to adopt internationally, individual countries have their own legal requirements.”
Last year, Jackie said she wouldn’t rule out trying IVF again as she has had her eggs frozen, but an “exhausting” pregnancy meant she was in no rush to try for number two.
‘I wouldn’t rule it out completely; I do have some swimmers sitting there, little bubs in tubes, that might one day see the light of day,” she told The Daily Telegraph.
“I’m still paying storage for them,’ she added. “If we could magically make a three-year-old appear right now, we’d have one. But it’s the thought of going through the pregnancy and the first two years that seems so exhausting to us right now.”
For more information on adoption criteria, click here and for international adoption click here.
