Adopted children have been left in limbo, without identity, as successive governments dither

Publication date: 10 July 2021

OPINION: There’s an unfathomable quality about TV programmes such as Long Lost Family, or its antipodean cousin, David Lomas’ Lost and Found. The narratives are heartbreakingly familiar: a child adopted out to loving parents enjoys a happy childhood, only to discover in later life that a piece of the “who am I” puzzle is missing. There’s a void in their identity, which the programme naturally manages to fill.

Redemption makes for top-rating telly that’s guaranteed to shed a tear among the voyeuristic like you and me. What these programmes blithely ignore is that, for the approximately 80,000 people who’ve been adopted between 1955-85, the state has engaged in sanctioned child-trafficking that redistributed children from single mothers to couples who couldn’t have children, claiming the birth mothers had a choice – when they didn’t.

Now finally, the most antiquated of the three pieces of legislation surrounding adoption, the 1955 Adoption Act, is under review.

The Ministry of Justice has released a discussion paper “Adoption in Aotearoa New Zealand”, reviewing the act. It’s seeking submissions on six key issues: what is adoption and who is involved; cultural aspects of adoption, including wh?ngai? or atawhai; how the adoption process works in New Zealand and offshore; the impacts of adoption; and the adoption process for a surrogate child.

* Barbara Sumner: 'I have yet to meet a woman who gladly gave away her baby'

* Robert Ludbrook, campaigner for adoption reform

* The truth about New Zealand's adoption laws: Two families tell their tales

Justice Minister Kris Faafoi’s media release in announcing the review talks of “targeted engagement with specific communities, including people affected by adoption”, while also presenting a strong clue as to the Government’s timeline to enact changes to adoption laws.

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Justice Minister Kris Faafoi has promised a review of adoption laws, but Janet Wilson doesn’t expect anything to change until at least the next electoral cycle. (File photo)

ROBERT KITCHIN/STUFF

Justice Minister Kris Faafoi has promised a review of adoption laws, but Janet Wilson doesn’t expect anything to change until at least the next electoral cycle. (File photo)

“In our manifesto we committed to reviewing adoption laws and removing discriminatory provisions,” Faafoi says. “This review fulfils that commitment, and will be an opportunity to ensure adequate support and information is available to people before, during and after adoption.”

That’s code for, “We’ll get the review finished this election cycle, just don’t expect any law change until after the next election.”

For the adopted, it’s a case of having been here many times before, as successive governments over nearly 50 years have wrung their hands and earnestly said that the law should reflect modern social values – then promptly done nothing.

There have been two previous Justice Department reports (in 1979 and 1987) calling for reform, another from the then-Department of Social Welfare in 1990, not to forget to 2000 Law Commission report, which placed a strong emphasis on the rights and interests of children, proposing more protection for birth mothers.

However well-loved adopted children might be, many feel a void in their sense of identity. (File photo)

LEV DOLGACHOV

However well-loved adopted children might be, many feel a void in their sense of identity. (File photo)

Let’s not also forget that those same successive governments have signed up to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which this country has consistently ratified since 1993, while at the same time ignoring Article 21, which is designed to ensure that, for the adopted, the best interests of the child remains paramount and that informed parental consent for adoption is given only after counselling.

Mothers who gave birth, only to have their child whisked away for someone else to parent, would say bollocks to that – that Article 21 has never been enacted in Aotearoa.

And for those at the centre of this unholy alliance – the children – there’s only secrecy and shame, afraid to speak publicly, denied a birth story and with no way legally of finding out, thanks to the 1955 Adoption Act.

While there have been rapid changes to what’s culturally acceptable (starting with the 1973 domestic purposes benefit), and the numbers of adopted people who have had access to their birth certificates has increased (between 1986-2006 more than 34,000 adopted people were able to do that), here’s the thing: the Adoption Act still represents 1955’s Presbyterian values in a 2021 world. A world where the interface of sexual politics is not feminism or queerness now, but whether a man who transitioned can compete as a woman in Olympic weightlifting.

Janet Wilson: It’s time for the state to step up and right the wrongs done to adopted children over the years – and not in its next term, but this one.

JOHN COWPLAND/STUFF

Janet Wilson: It’s time for the state to step up and right the wrongs done to adopted children over the years – and not in its next term, but this one.

And, as with sexuality, the adopted are on a continuum, some leading happy, well-adjusted lives, others feeling as if they’ve been locked out of knowing their birth-right, treated as commodities.

The Ministry of Justice review is a wide-ranging document that presents a huge range of options for those submitting to consider; it canvasses everything from the consent of the child, the timeframe for birth parents to give their consent to adopt, to allowing birth family involvement in the adoption process.

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But critics say its express aim of putting the child at the heart of everything continues to infantilise the adopted, most of whom are adults now.

For the adopted, while this review sounds promising, there’s still a long road to travel. After all, they’ve been here many times before. Made soothing promises that have never eventuated, which just reinforced the trauma – the dark void in their identity – that adoption has given them.

Time for the state to step up and right the wrong, not next term but this.

Janet Wilson is a former journalist until recently working in public relations, including a stint with the National Party.

Countries: New Zealand