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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Australia - National Disability Insurance Scheme has become political football
by: Steven Scott From: The Courier-Mail May 02, 2013 12:00AM
Trudi Ayken and son Marcus, who has Cerebral Palsy, at home at Salisbury, on Brisbane's south. Ms Ayken says the NDIS would give her life more certainty. PIC: Glenn Barnes Source: The Courier-Mail
THE National Disability Insurance Scheme, which both sides of politics claim to support, has become a political football.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard turned desperately needed help for the disabled into a political stoush with plans to increase the Medicare levy to help pay for it.
Within hours yesterday she shifted to two new positions on how to get the necessary legislation through parliament.
Opposition leader Tony Abbott will today outline his own plans to pay for the scheme, but he branded Ms Gillard's announcement of a tax rise "chaotic".
The scheme is meant to eventually provide lifelong support for 410,000 people with disabilities.
Ms Gillard yesterday said she would seek a mandate from voters for her plan to increase the Medicare levy from 1.5 per cent to 2 per cent from July 2014.
But after Mr Abbott urged her to put the plan to parliament, Ms Gillard said she was willing to introduce legislation before the September 14 election only if the opposition guaranteed support.
"If the Leader of the Opposition is unable to answer the question, what he believes in, on this matter, or wants to oppose this increase to the Medicare levy, then I will take it to the Australian people in September," Ms Gillard said.
Mr Abbott said he was concerned the Medicare levy increase would only pay for part of it.
"If you have only got half the funding, it stands to reason that you're only going to get half the scheme," Mr Abbott said.
"We want it to happen, we want it to happen in this term of parliament."
Mr Abbott has not confirmed whether he would support the increased levy.
But Opposition Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey earlier said the tax rise would "hit every household budget".
EDITORIAL: Check out devil in NDIS detail .. [ link operative, no URL?? .. first time for me ]
Under the proposal, which was previously ruled out by Ms Gillard, taxpayers would pay an extra 0.5 per cent Medicare levy to set up a fund to help pay for the disability insurance scheme.
This would cost about $350 a year for people who earn $75,000.
The tax increase would raise about $3.3 billion a year and $20.4 billion by 2018-19 when the disability scheme is meant to be fully operational.
The tax would cover only part of the cost of the insurance scheme, which is likely to be $8 billion a year and rise to $15 billion by the end of the decade.
But the government says this compares with the Medicare levy, which currently covers about half of federal spending on health.
State governments have been offered a quarter of the money to cover their costs over the next decade.
Ms Gillard won backing from Queensland Premier Campbell Newman, who had previously called for a levy and complained the state could not afford the scheme.
"We need to be grown up about this. Australians have said that they want this scheme, well it has to be paid for somehow," he said.
"If you're going to do something like that you have to either find new money - a tax or a levy and savings - or you have to do a combination."
Queensland is now almost certain to take part in the scheme and Mr Newman said the state may host some trial sites.
But West Australian Premier Colin Barnett attacked the proposal and said it was part of a federal take over of disability support.
People with Disability Australia spokesman Craig Wallace said the levy would take the scheme out of annual Budget debates.
"It makes it perpetual and actually means there's a secure underpinning of the scheme," he said.
Government announces National Disability Insurance Scheme guidelines
by: JOE KELLY From: The Australian March 06, 2013 12:00AM
The federal government is set to part fund the National Disability Insurance Scheme by requiring those whose disability is acquired through an injury to sue for compensation. Source: HWT Image Library
THE GOVERNMENT has released a series of draft ``rules'' informing people how to access the National Disability Insurance Scheme and what level of support can be provided to them.
The rules, which also set out how the government can deliver assistance, are open to public comment until March 23 and will be readjusted as required following the launch of the program in five sites across NSW, Victoria, South Australia, the ACT and Tasmania.
The rules establish guidelines on how to determine who is best positioned to make decisions on behalf of children with disabilities, who has parental responsibility and when children are capable of making decisions for themselves.
The determination of a "nominee'' to act on behalf of those with a disability is also set out in the draft criteria Rules governing how people with disabilities can participate in the launch of the NDIS, starting on July 1, are also established provided that potential beneficiaries meet the age, residence and disability requirements.
The age requirement will be met if the applicant was aged below 65 years when submitting an access request, although more stringent tests will apply in South Australia and Tasmania.
The residence requirements require the applicant to hold Australian citizenship or a permanent visa and live within the areas designated by each state and territory for the launch. The rules state that if a person stops meeting the residence requirements, their status as a participant in the launch can be revoked.
An individual meets the relevant disability requirements if their impairment is likely to be permanent, results in substantially reduced functional capacity to undertake basic daily activities and obtain work.
The rules clarify that participants in the launch will have individual plans, setting out the various supports that can be funded for them.
Unless their plans are managed directly with the NDIS Launch Transition Agency, there are no restrictions on who can provide the relevant assistance.
However, to become a ``registered support provider'' applications must be submitted to the agency containing an Australian Business Number, account details and a declaration of compliance with occupational health and safety laws.
The applicant must also demonstrate they possess the qualifications necessary to provide the support required and the necessary experience. They must inform the agency if they receive complaints, become insolvent or subject to an adverse action.
National Disability Insurance Scheme Budget Review 2012–13 Index
Luke Buckmaster
The Government has committed $1.0 billion over four years for the first stage of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), to be established in up to four locations from 2013–14. The locations will be determined through negotiations between the Australian Government and the states and territories. In its first year, the NDIS will provide care and support for up to 10 000 people with significant and permanent disability. This will increase to 20 000 people from 2014–15.[1]
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
