Gillard delivers apology to victims of forced adoption

Updated

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has delivered a national apology to victims of forced adoption practices that were in place in Australia from the late 1950s to the 1970s.

More than 800 people affected by forced adoptions gathered at the Great Hall in Canberra for the historic occasion.

"Today, this Parliament, on behalf of the Australian people, takes responsibility and apologises for the policies and practices that forced the separation of mothers from their babies which created a lifelong legacy of pain and suffering," she said.

"We acknowledge the profound effects of these policies and practices on fathers and we recognise the hurt these actions caused to brothers and sisters, grandparents, partners and extended family members.

"We deplore the shameful practices that denied you, the mothers, your fundamental rights and responsibilities to love and care for your children.

"You were not legally or socially acknowledged as their mothers and you yourselves were deprived of care and support.

Today, this Parliament, on behalf of the Australian people, takes responsibility and apologises for the policies and practices that forced the separation of mothers from their babies which created a lifelong legacy of pain and suffering. Julia Gillard

"We say sorry to you, the mothers, who were denied knowledge of your rights, which meant you could not provide informed consent.

"You were given false assurances. You were forced to endure the coercion and brutality of practices that were unethical, dishonest and in many cases illegal."

The crowd erupted with applause and many broke down in tears at several points throughout the speech.

Ms Gillard acknowledged that despite the apology, victims will still feel the pain.

"Friends, as the time for birth came, these babies would be snatched away before they had even held them in their arms," she said.

"Sometimes, consent was achieved by forgery or fraud. Sometimes women signed adoption papers whilst under the influence of medication.

"Most common of all was the bullying arrogance of a society that presumed to know what was best.

"The hurt did not simply last for a few days or weeks. This was a wound that would not heal."

She also acknowledged children who suffered sexual abuse at the hands of their adoptive parents or institutions.

She announced $5 million funding to improve access to specialist support, records tracing and mental health care for those affected by forced adoption, and a further $1.5 million to the National Archives for a special exhibition.

Sorry, this video has expired Video: Mother and child together for apology (ABC News)

'Unimaginable grief'

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott echoed Ms Gillard's apology.

"I cannot imagine a grief greater than that of a parent and a child parted from each other," he said.

"I cannot imagine an ache greater than the fear that mum didn't want me, especially since it wasn't true.

"But hundreds of thousands of Australians have been adopted, often because their mothers had no real choice or were denied any choice, and that means that there are hundreds of thousands of mothers who hardly knew their children and hundreds of thousands of children who hardly knew their mothers.

"This is a tragedy for them and for our nation and we must atone for it.

"Today our nation acknowledges that this was wrong and that we are sorry. Today, we accept responsibility for the pain, the suffering and the grief reverberating through tens of thousands of Australian families.

"On behalf of the nation, I join the Prime Minister in apologising."

Last year the Senate released a report into Australia's forced adoption practices.

It said there were as many as 150,000 adoptions between 1951 and 1975, but that it is impossible to know exactly how many were forced.

'Letting it go' Kerri Saint, who was forcibly adopted 50 years ago, says the national apology is a chance for her to let go. 'Lifelong distress' Julienne Lauer sketched her newborn baby Brigid just before she was taken away for adoption. 'Relative strangers' When Lina Eve finally met the daughter who was taken from her for adoption in 1964 it was the beginning of a creative journey exploring the complex and tragic impact of forced adoption. ' I just cried' Jo Fraser says she closed her eyes after giving birth because she knew she was not allowed to see her baby. 'From my arms' Jannie Bont says having a baby girl taken from her in 1957 broke her heart and spirit. 'Terrible price' Tammy says that becoming a mum herself made her realise what her birth mother was forced to miss out on.

'Kidnapped babies'

Those affected by forced adoptions have been lobbying for an apology since Kevin Rudd said sorry to the Stolen Generations in 2008.

The head of the Apology Alliance, Christine Cole, lost a child through forced adoption practices and says the apology has been a long time coming.

"It is an historical day for me and one that I have worked towards since 1994, I have been involved in bringing this issue to the public and educating the public about what happened to us," she said.

"I had my baby taken from me in 1969, and I think the use of the term forced adoption polarises the actual phenomena of what was going on.

I had my baby taken from me in 1969, and I think the use of the term forced adoption polarises the actual phenomena of what was going on. What was going on was kidnapping children, kidnapping newborn babies from their mothers at the birth. Christine Cole

"What was going on was kidnapping children, kidnapping newborn babies from their mothers at the birth, using pillows and sheets to cover their face, drugging them as I was drugged, with drugs like sodium pentothal, chloral hydrate and other mind-altering barbiturates.

"It was cruel, it was punitive and then often the mother was transported like I was away from the hospital so you had no access to your baby."

Ms Cole says the Government needs to do more to reunite adopted babies of the past with their natural parents, and suggests the creation of a DNA database.

"We certainly need a central database because there are many adoptees who are undocumented, so they just turned up as if they sort of landed here from some alien place," she said.

Sorry, this video has expired Video: Adoption advocate flags database to reunite families (ABC News)

'Apology not enough'

But one woman whose husband was born in Newcastle and forcibly adopted in the 1970s says Ms Gillard's apology will do nothing to ease their trauma.

The woman, known as Sydney, says her husband's adopted parents were told by a social worker in 1972 that his mother was a 15-year-old Newcastle girl with a boyfriend at school who was unable to keep the baby.

Sydney says just this week, documents arrived from an adoption support unit explaining that she was in fact 19-years-old, the victim of a rape and from a farming community.

She says lies by social workers have left her husband in the dark.

"He burst out crying," she said.

"All his life he was brought up to believe that his parents brought him into the world with love.

"I want the social worker to apologise to my husband's family for lying, and being so insensitive."

Sydney says her husband is devastated by the news.

"[His birth mother] didn't know who the birth father was," she said.

"He was a predator. Social workers all along had been lying."

Topics: adoption, federal-government, australia, canberra-2600

First posted