The ACT government has expressed deep regret to Canberrans who were victims of past forced adoption practices.
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In an address at the Legislative Assembly yesterday, Chief Minister Katy Gallagher made a formal apology to the mothers, children, fathers and relatives affected by the policies, dozens of whom had gathered in the chamber to hear the apology.
Ms Gallagher acknowledged the ''lifelong impact'' of the practice of forcibly separating mothers from their children and ''the grief, trauma, loss, disconnection and unwarranted shame, guilt and secrecy'' this had caused. It is estimated between 150,000 and a quarter of a million Australian women were forced to give up their children for adoption between the 1940s and the 1980s. While any forced adoptions that occurred in the ACT pre-dated self-government, Ms Gallagher said it was important to acknowledge the impact of those past policy decisions.
Monash resident Marg Green, who was taken from her mother in Sydney when she was five weeks old, said she hoped the apology would comfort families.
''[There are] mothers out there who are still living under that terrible shadow of 'you must never speak about this again,' '' she said. Flynn resident Thomas Graham was a victim of similar practices in South Africa.
He spent five years tracking down his birth mother and eventually found her in Germany.
''Adoption wasn't just focused on Australia, whatever country of the former British Empire it was, Australia, South Africa … these kinds of practices happened in all of those countries at about the same time.''
Mr Graham said the ACT government's apology would be felt by all victims of forced adoption practices, including those whose experiences occurred in other states and territories, or overseas.
