ADOPTION

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:22): Rex Jory wrote in The Advertiser on 21 September about celebrity adoptions and noted:

Celebrities think wealth can offer adopted kids more happiness than the love of the biological mother.

Overseas adoption has become an important issue in recent years. People mostly unable, for many reasons, to have their own biological children, look to other countries to offer homes to children because the Australian adoption rate has dropped significantly over the decades. Many social changes have meant that women have been able to exercise choice and keep their babies, when in the past stigma, ostracism and dreadful economic circumstances meant that giving up their babies was their only option. I can only imagine what implications such a sacrifice would entail.

Some of my constituents are involved with a Relinquishing Mothers Group, and I am indebted to one, a wonderful woman, a former workmate, who raised my awareness of an impact of adoption that for many does not even register. Adoption is often raised, so it is essential that all sides of the debate be taken into consideration when developing policies and guidelines.

There are many stories from files of the fifties, sixties and seventies here in South Australia, seen by staff who work in the area, about how adoptions were managed in those days. The Post Adoption Support Service is a vital link for relinquishing mothers and adopted children alike. Most babies adopted in South Australia were born at the Queen Victoria Hospital, where I had my two wonderful children under the care of Dr Ross Sweet.

There is no doubt that the care of mothers whose babies were to be adopted was, unfortunately, not very sensitive, partly, I imagine, because of the hospital protocols based on what was called a 'practised wisdom' and partly because of the beliefs of individual medical staff, no doubt reflecting the moral judgments of the time.

I would like to draw the house's attention to remarks on this topic made on 25 June by the member for Pascoe Vale in the Victorian state parliament when she spoke on adoption loss. She congratulated the Queensland government, Queensland Health and named Professor Ian Jones, Executive Director of the Women's and New Born Services at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, who had issued the following statement to members of the Adoption Loss Adult Support Group:

Thank you for meeting with senior members of Women's and New Born Services at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital on 10 February 2009 and sharing your stories with us about the care you received at the hospital some time ago. It was very moving and indeed saddening to hear how your experiences have adversely affected your lives, and many other lives that are near and dear to you.

From our frank discussions, we understand that each of you was denied the right to experience the natural relationship between mother and child, to care for and to raise your children yourselves, but because of hospital practices were not permitted to do so.

In summary, you have described to us how your much wanted babies were taken from you by the practices of the hospital operating at the time and that you feel you were coerced by hospital staff to sign over your babies for adoption.

In this regard, we acknowledge the hurt and suffering you have described and sincerely apologise for any ill treatment experienced by you as single women during your pregnancy and confinement at the Royal Women's Hospital. This is a profound letter which acknowledges the extreme hurt in the lives of many women, many children and many extended families and we should learn from it.

Apologies, as we know, are a very important fact in righting wrongs. We saw the powerful effects of the Prime Minister's apology to the Aboriginal people a year ago.

I have been seeking information and a history on any laws associated with adoption in South Australia but, due to the sensitivity around adoption, very little information exists on what was official policy at the hospitals at the time. At a later date, I hope to bring additional information to the house on what was known as state-sanctioned adoption of illegitimate children and, furthermore, personal stories of the lifetime damage that has been done through giving up babies, sometimes without even seeing it.

Children are precious and this government is committed to giving every baby the best possible start in life. This includes the best possible birthing experience for mother and child, and I am particularly proud of the work being done by midwives to provide choices in birthing and the safest possible beginning in life to every baby.

There is much debate at the moment about young people in the justice system and a good deal of research showing how important the years 0 to 8 are in establishing an individual's life. I know from talking with relinquishing mothers the impact such an act has had on their lives, their subsequent children's lives and the lives of their entire families. I know, too, that many adopted children always know they are different and yearn to know their history despite having happy home lives—happy enough to have seen them grow into fully functioning adults in the community. Even so, as perhaps Rex Jory's story suggests, happiness just cannot be measured.

Time expired.