Thursday, March 21, 2013 7:50:51 PM
Australia apologizes for nearly 225,000 forced adoptions after WWII
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=85954771
thanks to sideeki for that one .. below is also in reply there ..
An apology to forced adoption birth mothers: it’s about time
.. some background, and to other reconciliation efforts..
25 June 2012, 3.19pm AEST
[ image, unable to reproduce ]
The trauma of women forced to give up their children will finally be recognised. .Andi.
Authors
Patricia Fronek - Senior Lecturer School of Human Services and Social Work at Griffith University
Denise Cuthbert - Dean, School of Graduate Research, RMIT at RMIT University
Disclosure Statement
Patricia Fronek is a member of NICAAG (National Intercountry Adoption Advisory Group).
Denise Cuthbert is one of three Chief Investigators on an Australian Research Council funded project, A history of adoption in Australia.
A national apology .. http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/forced-adoption-apology-a-significant-step-for-healing-20120622-20tod.html .. to Australian mothers who experienced forced adoptions was announced by Attorney General Nicola Roxon last weekend.
This apology will follow those made to the Stolen Generations .. http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/indigenous/progserv/engagement/Pages/national_apology.aspx , [ link gone, insert video from 2nd article below ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3TZOGpG6cM
Forgotten Australians .. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/transcript-of-kevin-rudds-apology-to-forgotten-australians/story-e6frf7l6-1225798255277 .. and Lost Innocents .. http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/0910/ChildMigrants . Overseas birth mothers affected by forced adoptions should also be on our radar. [ see article below ]
On the 18th July, South Australia will apologise to Australian mothers whose children were removed. The Western Australian government, the Sisters of Mercy, the Catholic Church, the Uniting Church and Melbourne’s Royal Women’s Hospital have already offered apologies.
Planning for the national apology is underway. Australian mothers have worked hard to bring these breaches of human rights into public consciousness. They have also been among the first to recognise that their experiences and treatment by individuals, institutions and governments are strikingly similar to those of birth mothers in overseas adoptions.
During the 2005 Inquiry into Overseas Adoption .. http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House_of_Representatives_Committees?url=fhs/./adoption/media.htm , Australian mothers reminded us that overseas mothers feel the same grief and life-long consequences of forced separation from their children as they do.
Research into the circumstances of overseas adoptions tells us that children adopted overseas are taken away because the mothers were single, widowed or divorced or most often simply poor.
Government policies (or the absence of them), disasters, child trafficking and the private market provide the means to separate many children from their families. Resources are directed at institutionalisation and child removal for adoption instead of social policies for health and welfare, education, community development and the most basic safety nets necessary for family preservation in times of crises.
Overseas birth mothers are finding their voice. The Korean Unwed Mothers Support Network .. http://koreanunwedmoms.blogspot.com.au/ , Mindeulae, Truth and Reconciliation for the Adoption Community of Korea .. http://justicespeaking.wordpress.com/objective-%EB%AA%A9%EC%A0%81/ .. (TRACK) and other organisations are influencing governments in South Korea.
Birth mothers, adoptees and in some cases adoptive parents are working together to effect change in South Korea where vast numbers of children have been adopted overseas since the 1950s. A Korean 60 Minutes broadcast .. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xnSuTNPAwE .. exposed corrupt practices and abuses of birth mothers on Korean television in 2005.
In more impoverished countries, such as Romania and Ethiopia, birth mothers continue to experience breaches of their basic rights and lack of support. Many birth mothers, like adoptive parents and adoptees before them, are connecting with each other internationally via the internet. They share their stories, achievements and support.
Social workers and other professionals are addressing human rights and social justice concerns and supporting family reunification in Asia and the South Americas.
Australian society has changed. Apologies to groups harmed by past practices tell us clearly that these practices are no longer acceptable in 2012. Some commentators might argue that past abuses happened because we were unaware of the consequences. In Australia today, we can’t claim ignorance of the circumstances of overseas birth mothers.
A growing body of research tells us that lack of options, coercion, and unethical and illegal practices do exist. U.S. legal academic, David Smolin, warns that the position of birth mothers is the “elephant in the room” whenever overseas adoption is talked about.
More than 10,000 children have lost their first families and been adopted into Australia since the 1970s. As yet there is no consistent national approach to post-adoption support, including assisting adoptees searching for their birth families.
Australia is leading the way in apologies to Australian birth mothers. Governments and birth mothers in the UK, Canada and elsewhere are watching events in Australia closely. Overseas birth mothers should also be on the Australian radar.
We will be called at some time in the future to account for our complicity and offer apologies to those affected by what we already know.
-----------------------
Articles also by These Authors
* 21 March 2013 How adoption went wrong in Australia, and why we’re apologising today
http://theconversation.edu.au/how-adoption-went-wrong-in-australia-and-why-were-apologising-today-12887
* 14 November 2012 The politics of ‘orphans’ and the dirty tactics of the adoption lobby
http://theconversation.edu.au/the-politics-of-orphans-and-the-dirty-tactics-of-the-adoption-lobby-10537
http://theconversation.edu.au/an-apology-to-forced-adoption-birth-mothers-its-about-time-7875
======
Secrets and lies in the histories of overseas babies
Esther Han - Date November 26, 2012
Many adoptees struggle with displacement, loss and powerlessness, writes Esther Han.
Stunned by the truth … intercountry adoptee Kim Myung-Soo as a baby with her older sister in Korea. Photo: Steven Siewert
UNTIL she was in her late 20s, Kim Myung-Soo believed she was put up for adoption because she was born out of wedlock to South Korean factory workers. She was four when an Australian couple picked her up from Seoul and brought her up in rural NSW.
But when the 30-year-old from Canterbury was reunited with her birth mother in Seoul, she was stunned by the truth. Her parents had been married, did not work in a factory, and her real name was altered to Myung-Joo.
She learnt her mother was forced to relinquish her in order to remarry after her father had died. Single mothers are shunned in Korean society.
"Most of the Korean adoptees I know have confronted problems in the search for their family," said the social work student. "Half records, false information, whole files missing. Could be something big, something small, but it's nearly a given something will be incorrect."
Adoptee support groups and adoption experts are calling on the federal government to recognise the suffering of overseas birth mothers and their children in its impending apology for domestic forced adoption practices.
They claim many intercountry adoptions were also characterised by lack of freely given consent, deception and coercion, and that the government failed to prevent overseas children being removed in conditions it was opposed to in Australia.
Academics from nine Australian universities have written to the government's apology reference group, urging it to consider the growing research that shows the "loss and pain [suffered by overseas birth mothers] is at least equal to that of mothers in Australia".
Adoptees from countries including New Zealand, the US and South Korea have also sent a letter demanding an apology, saying as intercountry adoptees they "have also suffered similar hardships … including displaced belonging, disempowerment in relation to access to adoption information and their identity, and a profound sense of loss".
The dean of graduate research at RMIT, Denise Cuthbert, said international studies showed birth mothers were often separated from their children because they were single, widowed, divorced or poor.
"The federal government failed to satisfy itself that women in sending countries were relinquishing their children with free consent in a way it now insists Australian women do," Professor Cuthbert said. "No immigration can take place without the Commonwealth so they have direct involvement.''
More than 10,000 children have been adopted into Australia since the 1970s from countries such as China, Ethiopia and the Philippines. Of the 384 adoptions of children in 2010-11, 56 per cent involved overseas children.
South Korea has sent 2282 children to Australian parents since 1987, making it one of the top countries of origin.
Korean adoptee HeeRa Heaser signed both protest letters. "A 2005 government committee report showed that domestic adoption decreased when intercountry adoption occurred. It recognises the two are interconnected," she said.
A spokesman from the Attorney-General's Department said the apology reference group was focusing on "past adoption policies and practices specifically in Australia''.
The department said that, as a signatory of the Hague Convention, it would adhere to international standards for intercountry adoptions, which includes measures to prevent the abduction of, sale of or traffic in children.
Kim Myung-Soo is one of more than 200,000 Koreans adopted overseas since the Korean War armistice in 1953. While she believes recognition of intercountry adoption in a formal apology is a good first step, she is not convinced "lumping it" with domestic adoption is the best option.
"Including intercountry adoption is not going to reflect the complexities of two different cultures, two different historical contexts and two different lived experiences," she said.
Last month a 24-year-old Korean from Sydney filed a complaint to the Attorney-General after she learnt her adoption was unlawful. Her record showed her parents were unwed but her birth mother was told by a midwife she was stillborn.
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/secrets-and-lies-in-the-histories-of-overseas-babies-20121125-2a1he.html
======
A guide to Australia’s Stolen Generations
Explore a guide why Aboriginal children were stolen from their families, where they were taken and what happened to them.
The horrific abuse they suffered in institutions and foster families left thousands traumatised for life.
http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/politics/a-guide-to-australias-stolen-generations#toc1
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=85954771
thanks to sideeki for that one .. below is also in reply there ..
An apology to forced adoption birth mothers: it’s about time
.. some background, and to other reconciliation efforts..
25 June 2012, 3.19pm AEST
[ image, unable to reproduce ]
The trauma of women forced to give up their children will finally be recognised. .Andi.
Authors
Patricia Fronek - Senior Lecturer School of Human Services and Social Work at Griffith University
Denise Cuthbert - Dean, School of Graduate Research, RMIT at RMIT University
Disclosure Statement
Patricia Fronek is a member of NICAAG (National Intercountry Adoption Advisory Group).
Denise Cuthbert is one of three Chief Investigators on an Australian Research Council funded project, A history of adoption in Australia.
A national apology .. http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/political-news/forced-adoption-apology-a-significant-step-for-healing-20120622-20tod.html .. to Australian mothers who experienced forced adoptions was announced by Attorney General Nicola Roxon last weekend.
This apology will follow those made to the Stolen Generations .. http://www.fahcsia.gov.au/sa/indigenous/progserv/engagement/Pages/national_apology.aspx , [ link gone, insert video from 2nd article below ]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3TZOGpG6cM
Forgotten Australians .. http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/more-news/transcript-of-kevin-rudds-apology-to-forgotten-australians/story-e6frf7l6-1225798255277 .. and Lost Innocents .. http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/BN/0910/ChildMigrants . Overseas birth mothers affected by forced adoptions should also be on our radar. [ see article below ]
On the 18th July, South Australia will apologise to Australian mothers whose children were removed. The Western Australian government, the Sisters of Mercy, the Catholic Church, the Uniting Church and Melbourne’s Royal Women’s Hospital have already offered apologies.
Planning for the national apology is underway. Australian mothers have worked hard to bring these breaches of human rights into public consciousness. They have also been among the first to recognise that their experiences and treatment by individuals, institutions and governments are strikingly similar to those of birth mothers in overseas adoptions.
During the 2005 Inquiry into Overseas Adoption .. http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/House_of_Representatives_Committees?url=fhs/./adoption/media.htm , Australian mothers reminded us that overseas mothers feel the same grief and life-long consequences of forced separation from their children as they do.
Research into the circumstances of overseas adoptions tells us that children adopted overseas are taken away because the mothers were single, widowed or divorced or most often simply poor.
Government policies (or the absence of them), disasters, child trafficking and the private market provide the means to separate many children from their families. Resources are directed at institutionalisation and child removal for adoption instead of social policies for health and welfare, education, community development and the most basic safety nets necessary for family preservation in times of crises.
Overseas birth mothers are finding their voice. The Korean Unwed Mothers Support Network .. http://koreanunwedmoms.blogspot.com.au/ , Mindeulae, Truth and Reconciliation for the Adoption Community of Korea .. http://justicespeaking.wordpress.com/objective-%EB%AA%A9%EC%A0%81/ .. (TRACK) and other organisations are influencing governments in South Korea.
Birth mothers, adoptees and in some cases adoptive parents are working together to effect change in South Korea where vast numbers of children have been adopted overseas since the 1950s. A Korean 60 Minutes broadcast .. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xnSuTNPAwE .. exposed corrupt practices and abuses of birth mothers on Korean television in 2005.
In more impoverished countries, such as Romania and Ethiopia, birth mothers continue to experience breaches of their basic rights and lack of support. Many birth mothers, like adoptive parents and adoptees before them, are connecting with each other internationally via the internet. They share their stories, achievements and support.
Social workers and other professionals are addressing human rights and social justice concerns and supporting family reunification in Asia and the South Americas.
Australian society has changed. Apologies to groups harmed by past practices tell us clearly that these practices are no longer acceptable in 2012. Some commentators might argue that past abuses happened because we were unaware of the consequences. In Australia today, we can’t claim ignorance of the circumstances of overseas birth mothers.
A growing body of research tells us that lack of options, coercion, and unethical and illegal practices do exist. U.S. legal academic, David Smolin, warns that the position of birth mothers is the “elephant in the room” whenever overseas adoption is talked about.
More than 10,000 children have lost their first families and been adopted into Australia since the 1970s. As yet there is no consistent national approach to post-adoption support, including assisting adoptees searching for their birth families.
Australia is leading the way in apologies to Australian birth mothers. Governments and birth mothers in the UK, Canada and elsewhere are watching events in Australia closely. Overseas birth mothers should also be on the Australian radar.
We will be called at some time in the future to account for our complicity and offer apologies to those affected by what we already know.
-----------------------
Articles also by These Authors
* 21 March 2013 How adoption went wrong in Australia, and why we’re apologising today
http://theconversation.edu.au/how-adoption-went-wrong-in-australia-and-why-were-apologising-today-12887
* 14 November 2012 The politics of ‘orphans’ and the dirty tactics of the adoption lobby
http://theconversation.edu.au/the-politics-of-orphans-and-the-dirty-tactics-of-the-adoption-lobby-10537
http://theconversation.edu.au/an-apology-to-forced-adoption-birth-mothers-its-about-time-7875
======
Secrets and lies in the histories of overseas babies
Esther Han - Date November 26, 2012
Many adoptees struggle with displacement, loss and powerlessness, writes Esther Han.
Stunned by the truth … intercountry adoptee Kim Myung-Soo as a baby with her older sister in Korea. Photo: Steven Siewert
UNTIL she was in her late 20s, Kim Myung-Soo believed she was put up for adoption because she was born out of wedlock to South Korean factory workers. She was four when an Australian couple picked her up from Seoul and brought her up in rural NSW.
But when the 30-year-old from Canterbury was reunited with her birth mother in Seoul, she was stunned by the truth. Her parents had been married, did not work in a factory, and her real name was altered to Myung-Joo.
She learnt her mother was forced to relinquish her in order to remarry after her father had died. Single mothers are shunned in Korean society.
"Most of the Korean adoptees I know have confronted problems in the search for their family," said the social work student. "Half records, false information, whole files missing. Could be something big, something small, but it's nearly a given something will be incorrect."
Adoptee support groups and adoption experts are calling on the federal government to recognise the suffering of overseas birth mothers and their children in its impending apology for domestic forced adoption practices.
They claim many intercountry adoptions were also characterised by lack of freely given consent, deception and coercion, and that the government failed to prevent overseas children being removed in conditions it was opposed to in Australia.
Academics from nine Australian universities have written to the government's apology reference group, urging it to consider the growing research that shows the "loss and pain [suffered by overseas birth mothers] is at least equal to that of mothers in Australia".
Adoptees from countries including New Zealand, the US and South Korea have also sent a letter demanding an apology, saying as intercountry adoptees they "have also suffered similar hardships … including displaced belonging, disempowerment in relation to access to adoption information and their identity, and a profound sense of loss".
The dean of graduate research at RMIT, Denise Cuthbert, said international studies showed birth mothers were often separated from their children because they were single, widowed, divorced or poor.
"The federal government failed to satisfy itself that women in sending countries were relinquishing their children with free consent in a way it now insists Australian women do," Professor Cuthbert said. "No immigration can take place without the Commonwealth so they have direct involvement.''
More than 10,000 children have been adopted into Australia since the 1970s from countries such as China, Ethiopia and the Philippines. Of the 384 adoptions of children in 2010-11, 56 per cent involved overseas children.
South Korea has sent 2282 children to Australian parents since 1987, making it one of the top countries of origin.
Korean adoptee HeeRa Heaser signed both protest letters. "A 2005 government committee report showed that domestic adoption decreased when intercountry adoption occurred. It recognises the two are interconnected," she said.
A spokesman from the Attorney-General's Department said the apology reference group was focusing on "past adoption policies and practices specifically in Australia''.
The department said that, as a signatory of the Hague Convention, it would adhere to international standards for intercountry adoptions, which includes measures to prevent the abduction of, sale of or traffic in children.
Kim Myung-Soo is one of more than 200,000 Koreans adopted overseas since the Korean War armistice in 1953. While she believes recognition of intercountry adoption in a formal apology is a good first step, she is not convinced "lumping it" with domestic adoption is the best option.
"Including intercountry adoption is not going to reflect the complexities of two different cultures, two different historical contexts and two different lived experiences," she said.
Last month a 24-year-old Korean from Sydney filed a complaint to the Attorney-General after she learnt her adoption was unlawful. Her record showed her parents were unwed but her birth mother was told by a midwife she was stillborn.
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/secrets-and-lies-in-the-histories-of-overseas-babies-20121125-2a1he.html
======
A guide to Australia’s Stolen Generations
Explore a guide why Aboriginal children were stolen from their families, where they were taken and what happened to them.
The horrific abuse they suffered in institutions and foster families left thousands traumatised for life.
http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/politics/a-guide-to-australias-stolen-generations#toc1
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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