Separated at Birth

SEPARATED AT BIRTH ADOPTION PRACTICES IN RELATION TO SINGLE WOMEN CONFINED AT THE ROYAL WOMEN’S HOSPITAL 1945-1975 SEPARATED AT BIRTH ADOPTION PRACTICES IN RELATION TO SINGLE WOMEN CONFINED AT THE ROYAL WOMEN’S HOSPITAL 1945-1975 Submitted by Christin Anne Quirk Bachelor of Teaching/Bachelor of Arts Australian Catholic University, Melbourne A thesis submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Philosophy School of Arts and Sciences (VIC) Faculty of Arts and Sciences Australian Catholic University Research Services Locked Bag 4115 Fitzroy, Victoria 3065 Australia 18 January 2012 ii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP AND SOURCES This thesis contains no material published elsewhere or extracted in whole or in part from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma. No parts of this thesis have been submitted towards the award of any other degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution. No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgment in the main text of the thesis. All research procedures reported in the thesis received the approval of the relevant Ethics/Safety Committees (where required). Signed…………………………………………………………… Date……………………………………………………………... iii ABSTRACT From November 2010, the Australian Government’s Senate Inquiry into former forced adoption policies and practices investigated almost four hundred submissions that included claims that past adoption practices were unethical, illegal and used undue influence to coerce never married mothers to relinquish their children. During the period 1945-1975 the demand for adoptable babies for infertile couples in Australia was at its peak, with over 45,000 adoptions legalised in Victoria alone. At this time, often referred to as the ‘heyday’ of adoption, up to sixty-eight per cent of never married mothers were separated from their babies. Adoption was characterised as a mutually advantageous solution that guaranteed the moral and social redemption of mother and child, with adoptive parents cast as benevolent and sympathetic. Within this context, the relinquishing mothers were marginalised, stigmatised, and unable to acknowledge their grief and loss. The assumption that such illegal and unethical practices would remain undocumented has underpinned the selection of oral history as the most appropriate investigative tool. However, although this research has been primarily informed by interviews with single mothers and former hospital staff, archival research has also provided rich documentary evidence with which to contextualise and corroborate this testimony. Hospital policy records, departmental reports, committee minutes, and correspondence, as well as a limited number of medical and case files, have confirmed punitive practices and the existences of policies that prescribed differential treatment for married and never married patients. Current interest in former forced adoption practices—both scholarly and governmental— provides an important backdrop, not only for the timing of this thesis, but in emphasising the need to improve the empirical evidence base on which to develop an appropriate policy response. While some state governments have undertaken inquiries into these practices and others have made official apologies, such action remains to be seen in Victoria. Documenting delivery and adoption practices at Melbourne’s Royal Women’s Hospital (RWH), the largest maternity hospital in Victoria, this thesis hopes to inform moves towards an apology amid demands from mothers who have lost a child to adoption that past injustices be acknowledged. iv In the period 1945-1975, the dilemma facing the single mother was exacerbated by community attitudes and social values that embraced adoption as the solution to illegitimacy and infertility, and failed to provide viable alternatives. This thesis challenges the notion that single women willingly relinquished their babies at this time and argues that mothers faced enormous pressure from the moral pronouncements of the community, professionals, and particularly from their families. Within this social and historical framework, the policies and practices of the RWH were complicit in enabling and enforcing morally driven social norms that venerated the nuclear family and demonised the single mother. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to gratefully acknowledge a number of people to whom I am indebted for their assistance during the course of my research. This thesis would not have been possible without the financial support of the Royal Women’s Hospital; for this, I would like to express my gratitude to Professor Fiona Judd. For the duration of this project, I was granted unrestricted access to the hospital archives and I would like to thank archivist Robyn Waymouth for leading me through the collection. And thank you to Margaret Mabbitt and the other former hospital staff, who took the time to answer my questions, discussed the issues of the time with me, and shared anecdotes and lunches. To my supervisor Professor Shurlee Swain, who entrusted me with this project and guided me through it, I would like to say thank you for the invaluable advice and encouragement you provided throughout the course of this research. I am grateful for the assistance and support of several other academics who inspired me along the way: to Professor Alistair Thomson for teaching me about oral history; to Professor Emirita Marian Quartly for her advice and expertise as I prepared to submit this thesis; and to Dr Noah Riseman for letting me drop into his office anytime. A special note of appreciation also goes to Dr Nell Musgrove who was always there when I needed advice, debriefing, or someone to listen when I talked through my ideas. I am also pleased that I was able to share this journey with my colleagues Laura Saxton, Sarah Dowling, and especially Rosslyn Almond. And to my daughter, Dominique, thank you for your patience, understanding, and support. Most importantly I would like to acknowledge and thank the women who invited me into their homes and shared the personal stories that formed the basis of this research: Ann Allpike, Sandi Barry, Dianne Gray, Ann Groves, Nancy Johnson, Lyn Kinghorn, Maureen Phillips, Maureen Rust, Patricia Shine, Lynda Stevens, Gillian Thomas, Cheryl Wallis, and others who preferred to remain anonymous. Thank you! vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... vi List of Appendices ...................................................................................................................viii Abbreviations............................................................................................................................. ix CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION & CONTEXT ........................................................................... 1 Contemporary Debate .................................................................................................... 2 Contextual Scholarship................................................................................................... 8 Historical Framework .................................................................................................. 11 Thesis Outline ............................................................................................................... 20 CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK & METHODOLOGY ........................................ 22 Language and Terminology .......................................................................................... 23 Research Design ........................................................................................................... 26 Oral History .................................................................................................................. 29 Archival Evidence ......................................................................................................... 35 CHAPTER THREE: PREGNANCY ............................................................................................... 38 Discovery & Disclosure................................................................................................ 43 Accommodation ............................................................................................................ 47 Attending The Hospital ................................................................................................. 51 The Almoner ................................................................................................................. 55 CHAPTER FOUR: DELIVERY & RELINQUISHMENT ................................................................. 62 Hospital Administration ............................................................................................... 64 Delivery ........................................................................................................................ 67 Separation & Relinquishment ....................................................................................... 73 Consent ......................................................................................................................... 82 CHAPTER FIVE: THE BUSINESS OF ADOPTION ........................................................................ 86 Adoptive Parents as Customers ...................................................................................

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