Forced adoption (or forced family separation) are the terms now used to describe the practices where many pregnant unwed women (and their partners) were subjected to unauthorised or illegal separation from their children. From the 1950s to the early 1970s, the prevalence of forced adoption in Australia was high. These practices were unethical, immoral and often illegal. There was a societal expectation for single mothers to “give up” their children to childless, married couples, who were seen as “deserving”. The shame and silence that surrounded pregnancy out of wedlock meant that these women were seen as “unfit” mothers.
Forced adoptions occurred through maternity homes, hospitals and adoption agencies, and privately arranged adoptions. Doctors, nurses, social workers and religious organisations carried them out. Sometimes the mother’s own parents were complicit in coercing the mother (and father) into “consenting” to the adoption (AIFS, 2016).
In the report, the Commonwealth contribution to former forced adoption policies and practices, the Senate’s Community Affairs References Committee heard many cases of women who, between about 1940 and 1970, lost their babies even though they had not given consent or who had given consent but only because of coercion. Some women tried to use their legal entitlement under adoption legislation to revoke their consent but were refused.
Examples or traumatising and illegal perinatal practices associated with forced adoption included:
Single mothers’ patient records were marked with acronyms, such as UB- (unmarried, not keeping baby) or BFA (baby for adoption). A social worker at Crown Street Women’s Hospital, interviewed for the Four Corners program recalled the processes for single mothers: “Well the practice, the general practice was that the baby would be whisked away to the nursery. Ah, it would labelled, you know, BFA – baby for adoption” (Given or taken? Four Corners, 2012).
While adoption practices in Australia have undergone considerable change since the 1970s, the effects of forced adoption and forced family separation are still very much a part of the lives of the many thousands of people involved. The impacts of forced adoption and family separation are diverse and long-lasting, not only for mothers and fathers separated from a child by adoption, but also for the adult sons and daughters who were adopted as babies, and their extended family members.
The Senate recommended that the Commonwealth Government issue a formal statement of apology that identifies the actions and policies that resulted in forced adoption and acknowledges, on behalf of the nation, the harm suffered by many parents whose children were forcibly removed and by the children who were separated from their parents (recommendation 2). This apology was delivered by Prime Minister Julia Gillard on 21 March 2013.
