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In conversation with … Catherine Lynch … adoptee activist, mother, lawyer
Catherine I have been looking forward to our interview. Let’s get straight into it. Adopted people, after decades of invisibility and being relegated to the silent party in adoption, are finding their voice and speaking out about what it is like to live with the legacy of adoption and even to question the practice of […]
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In conversation with … Heather Kinang … Himalayan Climber, Trekker, Yoga Teacher and Late Discoverer
Heather whenever I see a post of yours in social media it usually shows you climbing a mountain, running alongside the Brisbane river or in a complex yoga pose. You do seem to love the outdoors and enjoy physical activity. If we can start with your trekking adventures in the Nepal and Kathmandu mountains what […]
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Writing as Therapy
I was one of three guest authors invited to talk at a recent Speakers Forum hosted by Counsellors Tricia Dearden and Brooke Bengston at the Post Adoption Resource Centre, Sydney. Alongside Margaret Watson who spoke about her book Surviving Secrets, and Gwen Wilson who reflected on her memoir I Belong to No One, I talked […]
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Taking Adoption to the Big Screen
Based in South Australia, Waters Productions started by Heather Waters, creates films which stir the soul and provoke the senses. Primarily they focus on adoption issues including the short film, The Lost Souls, set in the 1960s about the closed adoption era that was released in 2013. Current projects include a developing feature film, Primal […]
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Men Living With Their Adoption
Michael it is three years since we first met at the adoption retreat organised by the Benevolent Society at the Brahma Kumaris Spiritual Centre in Wilton. I recall we were a group of seventeen adopted people who came together, over three days, to engage more deeply with our adoption experience and explore pathways to healing. […]
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Begin Again – A Workshop for Adult Adoptees
I spoke with Sherry Hearn about her counselling / coaching business and the one day workshop she is offering to adopted people at Relationships Australia on 17 September 2016, in Adelaide. Sherry, you are an adopted person, born in New Zealand, in the 1970s. You grew up in Christchurch and Hawaii before studying at […]
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A Conversation with Gary Coles about Forgotten Fathers
Gary, you are the father of a son who was relinquished for adoption shortly after his birth in 1967. During your life you have written extensively about the invisibility of fathers in adoption. You are also a campaigner for fathers’ rights. On Tuesday 28 June 2016 SBS ONE TV will go to air with an […]
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Reflecting on Adoption – Interview with Sofie Gregory about short film Loss and Connection
I spoke to Sofie Gregory about her adoption experience and the short film, Loss and Connection she was involved with late last year. Readers should watch the nine minute film first as the interview relates to the content of the short film. Sofie you are an adopted person from the closed adoption era. Dealing with loss […]
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In Conversation with Margaret Watson about her book Surviving Secrets
It’s several years since your memoir Surviving Secrets was published and I reviewed it for the Australian Journal of Adoption. How has your life been in the intervening years since the book went to print? Thank you for that review Thomas and your support for my memoir. It is coming up to 7 years since […]
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In Conversation with Maria Haenga-Collins, adopted person and PhD Candidate
I spoke to Maria Haenga-Collins, a PhD candidate in the Australian Centre for Indigenous History (School of History) at the Australian National University, about her studies and her experience of adoption. Maria is a Māori (Ngāti Porou, Te Aitanga-a-Mahaki, Ngāi Tahu) woman who was first fostered, then adopted, into a Pākehā (white) family in the mid […]