Releasing the past: Mothers’ stories of their stolen babies Editor Christine A. Cole Illustrator Jan Kashin Releasing the past: Mothers’ stories of their stolen babies Editor CHRISTINE A. COLE Illustrator Jan Kashin Cover design Graphic Design© Sasko Veljanov Cover illustration© (Acrylic on canvas): Jan Kashin ‘when the matron was sure I was drowning she came in and helped herself’ This book is the outcome of Recommendation 18 of the New South Wales Upper House Inquiry into Past Adoption Practices (1998-2000) and was funded by the New South Wales Department of Community Services This is a not-for-profit publication and all proceeds will go to a Fund set up to assist mothers who lost their child to adoption Editor Christine A Cole Illustrator Jan Kashin Published Printer Veljanov Printing National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Releasing the Past: Mothers’ stories of their stolen babies Christine A. Cole, editor ISBN 978-1-74108-163-3 Includes bibliographical references 1. Adoption-Australia-Forced adoption -law 2. Stolen generation 3. Children, Adopted-Australia-Psychology-Sociology I. Cole, C. II Kashin, J. This book in its entirety is the © copyright of the New South Wales Committee on Adoption and Permanent Care c/- Post Adoption Resource Centre P.O. Box 239, Bondi NSW 2026. Each individual story, painting and piece of poetry remains the © copyright of each individual author and artist Except as permitted under the © Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), no part of this publication may be reproduced by any process, electronic or otherwise, without the specific written permission of the copyright owner. Neither may information be stored electronically in any form whatsoever without such permission. THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO OUR CHILDREN GRANDCHILDREN AND SO ON DOWN THE GENERATIONS MAY OUR STORIES BARE TRUTH TO THE SACREDNESS OF BLOOD TIES AND MOTHERHOOD Foreword It is only when the suffering of those most directly damaged by a socio-cultural disaster are heard that there is any opportunity for a Nation to evaluate a malign aspect of its own development. In the instance of the thousands of Australian young mothers who lost a baby to adoption in the latter half of the last century, the distress and consequences are little known because they were dealt with one by one, and, at the time, mostly isolated from their family, partner and friends. In this book you will read of the facts and feelings of their experience. You will also be brought up against many of the consequences of this strange time of social aberration that followed what was mostly sound enactment of law by Australian State governments in The Middle Sixties. However it was like road law without a police force – it functioned anarchically. In New South Wales it came into force on the fifth day after birth when it was possible for a mother to sign documents under the Act with a 30 day time to change her mind. Nevertheless, a hidden piece of information (like the benefits available to her if she were to keep the baby) was that she would have to deliver further documents to the Supreme Court office to rescind her ‘consent’. In the numerous stories I know, a common theme is that the ‘baby takers’ made sure the law and lawyers were kept right out of any such transaction. If ever anybody needed a lawyer it was these babies, girls and women – but right there and then. Informed Consent, Natural Justice, Common Law and The New South Wales Parliament were treated with contempt. The Reader, like myself, when I heard such accounts, will be stunned with disbelief that such practices could happen in Australia so recently and that there are tens of thousands of our population profoundly affected by them. It took me a long time to know they were a common problem, and not extraordinary events of the one-off kind. I expect every reader not already familiar with such matters as this book to feel similar shock. During more than thirty years I have heard many hundreds of such stories and my views are well known on the Internet, but even now I have an inner feeling of irrational disbelief that such a time is part of Australia’s history. Each time I hear an adoptee say, If my mother had really wanted me, she could have…. something inside me boils, no matter how much I feel with the adoptee before me. As a psychiatrist I am left with one stand out conclusion: that a woman having a baby taken from her is one of the deepest traumas available, and the grief is untenable when she knows her child is out there – where? January 2008 Geoffery A. Rickarby MB BS FRANZCP MANZAP Member of the Faculty of Child Psychiatry RANZCP Contents Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 1 Ethically and legally: what was supposed to happen? ................................................. 7 Overview ............................................................................................................................. 7 International law ................................................................................................................. 7 Australian law ..................................................................................................................... 8 What happened in reality! .............................................................................................. 11 Why did it happen? Adoption industry culture: explaining the ideology behind the removals .......................................................................................................................... 15 The illusion of choice ..................................................................................................... 21 Mothers’ stories of their stolen babies ......................................................................... 26 From ‘JB’ to ‘Janice Benson’ ............................................................................................ 28 Margaret Watson’s oral testimony .................................................................................... 53 Before meeting you by Jayne Miller ................................................................................. 60 Carmel's story ................................................................................................................... 62 A work in progress — Jenny’s story ................................................................................. 66 Secrets ............................................................................................................................. 70 It seems like yesterday — Roslyn's story ......................................................................... 74 ‘Mutilation, mummification, dummification’ by Janice Benson Kashin .............................. 77 Robin's story ..................................................................................................................... 83 Robin's story ..................................................................................................................... 83 A mother’s loss by Cheryl King ......................................................................................... 87 My story by Maureen Watson ........................................................................................... 91 My story by Pauline Tucker .............................................................................................. 94 The memorial plaque by Barbara Maison ......................................................................... 97 An open letter by June Smith ........................................................................................... 99 The gift by Christine A. Cole ........................................................................................... 105 Extracts from an interview with Dr Geoffery Rickarby, 9 August 2007 ........................... 106 Lost, found and lost by Mary Walsh ............................................................................... 108 Jacki's story .................................................................................................................... 113 I forgot to remember to forget by Barbara Maison .......................................................... 116 A mother’s plight by Christine A. Cole ............................................................................ 125 The campaign for the Inquiry: the ‘scandal of white stolen babies’ ........................ 146 The collaborative effort spanning decades ..................................................................... 147 Mothers go to United Nations for justice over 'kidnappings' ........................................... 148 Rally outside New South Wales Parliament House ........................................................ 150 Pat Rogan’s letter calling for a National Inquiry .............................................................. 151 The Inquiry validates mothers’ claims ....................................................................... 153 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 155 Recommendations of the Standing Committee on Social Issues: Releasing the Past Adoption Practices 1950–1998 Final Report .................................................................. 157 Excerpt from an interview with Mr Patrick Rogan, Former MP for East Hills, NSW ....... 161 APPENDIXES ...............................................................................................................