PAST ADOPTION PRACTICES

Adjourned debate on motion of Hon. G.E. Gago:

That this council:

1. recognises that the lives of many members of the South Australian community have been adversely affected by adoption practices which have caused deep distress and hurt, especially for mothers and their children, who are now adults;

2. recognises that past adoption practices have profoundly affected the lives of not only these people, but also fathers, grandparents, siblings, partners and other family members;

3. accepts with profound sorrow that many mothers did not give informed consent to the adoption of their children, and to those mothers who were denied the opportunity to love and care for their children, we are deeply sorry;

4. recognises that practices of our past mean that there are some members of our community today who remain disconnected from their families of origin.

To those people adopted as children who were denied the opportunity to be loved and cared for by their families of origin, we are deeply sorry.

To those people who were disbelieved for so long, we hear you now; we acknowledge your pain and we offer you our unreserved and sincere regret and sorrow for those injustices.

To all those hurt, we say sorry.

(Continued from 19 July 2012.)

The Hon. M. PARNELL (16:14): I rise today as a Greens member of this parliament to add my comments welcoming the formal apology delivered by the Premier and echoed by many other MPs from all sides of politics for the former forced adoption practices that unjustly, unethically and sometimes illegally coerced vulnerable parents into giving up their sons and daughters for adoption.

In state parliament my colleague the Hon. Tammy Franks and the member for Morialta in the other place, John Gardner MP, had both previously put forward motions calling on the Premier to apologise for these forced adoption practices. This apology was first recommended by the Australian Senate community affairs committee's commonwealth contribution to former forced adoption policies and practices report which was tabled in February this year.

The committee's inquiry was chaired by Greens Senator Rachel Siewert. Submissions to the Senate inquiry highlighted the grief and emptiness felt by parents and families that had relinquished their children. This grief often lasted for decades and can still be felt today. Some tens of thousands of Australian women were estimated to have been forced into adopting their babies by government and church-run homes and hospitals between the 1940s and the 1980s.

An estimated 250,000 Australian women were subject to the practice of closed adoption during this period, where adoption papers were sealed in order to provide a complete break between mother and child. The impacts on the adoptees themselves, now adults, have been substantial. Denied their birthright, they have suffered the loss of a family of origin, the loss of their heritage, the loss of their identities, the loss of their names, their biological connections to other siblings and extended families and the knowledge of their genetic history, and the loss of very being.

Many of these people are of course now parents and grandparents themselves and have carried the legacy of their unjust treatment at the hands of our state or institutions for their entire lives. Their families in turn have also been affected by the intergenerational effects of adoption, with the impacts cascading down through the generations.

I hope that the apology now given will formally mark a public healing process from a very disturbing chapter in our state's history. Whilst the injustice of what happened has only very recently been recognised, we cannot unknow what we now know, and we need to move forward in the journey from injustice to healing and recovery. This apology is a good start, but we all know that actions speak louder than words. While the multipartisanship with which this apology has been received is welcome, it is clear that the words themselves will not be enough to address the wrongs done to the adoptees and their families, as well as to the relinquishing parents and their families.

The government must follow up this apology with a commitment to resource and support appropriate actions to facilitate healing and reconnection, including the provision of counselling services, access to records and reparations. The Greens are committed to addressing the injustices of the past. We are wholeheartedly committed to supporting such actions to assist those affected by forced adoptions in the healing and recovery process, as recommended by the Senate committee's report.

Sadly and tragically for many of those impacted, their lives already have been permanently changed in ways that those of us who are not directly involved can never share nor hope to fully understand or appreciate. For all the mothers, fathers, grandparents, siblings, partners and other family members of adoptees, and the adoptees themselves, these past adoption practices have in many cases blighted their lives.

For all those mothers and fathers, the adoptees themselves, their children and their immediate and extended families who were adversely affected by these past adoption practices, we are sorry. For the many pregnant and unmarried women who were not given the appropriate care and respect that they needed, and were sometimes coerced to give up children for adoption, we are sorry. For the removal after birth from their mothers, and the long-term anguish, emptiness and suffering this caused to all involved, we are sorry. For the friends and families of those today who were subject to forced adoptions and continue to experience feelings of grief, pain and loss, we are sorry. As a community, we were wrong then to do what we did and we are sorry now. I commend the motion to the council.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the Status of Women) (16:18): I thank honourable members for their very important contributions to this very important motion, and I look forward to the unanimous support of this motion.

Motion carried.