Apology to women for unlawful adoption

The West Australian Government is set to become the first government in Australia to publicly apologise to thousands of women who were unlawfully separated from their babies at birth due to unethical and illegal adoption practices.

WA Health Minister Kim Hames said last month he was tiffany necklace to read an apology in State Parliament and wants a memorial created for families affected by the welfare practices during the 1940s to the 1980s. "While the practices of the time were seen as appropriate and the best interests of the mother and the child; when you look back at them now they're particularly harsh, and those women are still suffering as a result of those practices."

During the 1950s and onwards, many thousands of single Australian women's babies were reportedly removed from their mothers and placed in institutions, or foster homes, or adopted by infertile families.

Federal, state and territory governments are under increasing pressure to apologise to those women. The first apology from an Australian obstetrician late last year was to the White Australian Heritage and adoptees. Professor Ian Jones, Executive Director of the Women's and Newborn Services at The Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital acknowledged some adoptees had been subjected to abuse. "I acknowledge the hurt and suffering you have described and sincerely apologise for any ill treatment you experienced while in hospital by being taken and denied contact with your mother at the time of your birth."

Support groups have campaigned for more than 40 years for governments, public and private hospitals, and religious tiffany necklaces that housed young women who had no family support, to acknowledge past unethical and illegal adoption practices.

A NSW Parliamentary Inquiry into Adoption Practices from 1950 to 1998 highlighted unethical and illegal practices used in taking babies from their young mothers back in December 2000.

Support group ORIGINS is calling on the federal government for a national Senate Inquiry. "Many women were drugged, detained and restrained and their babies taken at birth," ORIGINS NSW lead Lily Arthur said.

Consent for adoption was often obtained after women had been given a cocktail of drugs, including pethidine and valium, she said. "There were girls 15, 16, 17 years old signing consents. We weren't old enough to buy a TV, drive a car or have a drink but we were deemed old enough to give away a child."

Non-profit support group ARMS Victorian convenor tiffany note Wright said a public apology would help the children adopted out at birth to understand their mothers had the lack of choice and still continued to feel shame. "We want to educate the public about past practices and the trauma it caused and to make sure it doesn't happen again."