Adoption Practices
ADOPTION PRACTICES
Ministerial Statement
Mrs LO PO’ (Penrith - Minister for Community Services, Minister for Ageing, Minister for Disability Services, and Minister for Women) [2.15 p.m.]: I am pleased to advise the House that late yesterday afternoon I referred to the Legislative Council Standing Committee on Social Issues the following reference:
That the Standing Committee on Social Issues inquire into and report on the professional practices in the administration and delivery of adoption and related services, particularly those services relating to the taking of consents, offered to birth parents and children in New South Wales from 1950 to 1988.
Whether adoption practices during this time involved unethical and unlawful practices and/or practices that denied birth parents access to non adoption alternatives for their child; and
If so, what measures would assist persons experiencing distress due to such adoption practices.
I advise the House that shortly after I assumed this portfolio I agreed to meet a delegation of individuals and members of Parliament who had raised concerns about this issue. I found their stories both harrowing and moving. I do not wish to pre-empt the inquiry; however, I, and plainly other members of this House, have been approached and impressed by the depth of feeling that these women have for this issue. I will not take the time of the House now to relate a cross-section of their stories, which appropriately will be the subject of the committee inquiry, but it certainly seems as though these are not isolated incidents. I have been told that many hundreds, if not thousands, of women are to this day experiencing emotional distress as a result of their experiences.
It is incumbent on governments to deal with this important matter. These people approached the Commonwealth and other State governments appealing for an inquiry but their pleas have fallen on deaf ears. Consequently, I agreed to their request for an inquiry into all matters surrounding the alleged removal of children during the adoption process. This is a further example of the Carr Government listening to people. It will give many of these women the chance for the first time to air their grievances publicly or in private, according to their individual preference, and to be heard and acknowledged by a parliamentary committee.
Mrs SKINNER (North Shore) [2.18 p.m.]: Stolen white babies is an important social issue. Those on whom it impacted came from diverse social, economic and religious backgrounds, but they have all suffered in their own way. These children were not only taken from their families; in the process they lost their rights as individuals. It not only affected the children; it affected the mothers who were forced to sign adoption papers to give up their children. During the period when this occurred - from 1965 to 1973 - women who had their children taken were offered no information on adoption. The mothers did not give informed consent and were not offered alternatives or financial assistance. Some mothers were even forced to sign adoption papers when they were in a drugged state. The coalition supports the inquiry by the Standing Committee on Social Issues into stolen white babies.