Without Consent, an exhibition about Australia’s past adoption practices, has began its nine venue, two-year tour of the regions, beginning in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia.

The exhibition, developed by the National Archives of Australia, examines past adoption policies and practice drawn from the contributions of those directly impacted; the mothers, fathers and children – now adults – whose lives were irreversibly changed as a consequence of birth out of a wedlock.

Without Consent offers insights into the family, social and legal dynamics that combined to produce the period of mass adoptions that characterised much of the second half of the last century.

Almost a quarter of a million Australians are affected by what has became bureaucratically termed as ‘forced adoption’. The act, as described in the exhibition booklet, ‘of removing a baby from a mother through means of coercion, manipulation, withholding information or physical force.’

In the early 1970s, this practice reached it’s Australian peak, resulting in one baby being removed from its mother every hour of every day. It was a highly structured and well oiled machine of forced removal.

Why? Because the mother was young, single and pregnant without the support of those closest to her.

Prevailing norms dictated the status of motherhood could only be validated and conferred through marriage.

Social expectations and conventions of the time didn’t approve of unwed mothers. In many cases families and other parties became involved in systematically facilitating the removal of new born children from their mothers. Parents … grandparents … priests … doctors … social workers … lawyers … and government officials all working together to ensure mothers were permanently separated from their child. Effectively, the mother had no choice. Informed consent was absent.

In the background stood the fathers. Largely invisible, they either slipped away quietly or were purposely shut out of any decision making, if in fact they were aware of the pregnant status of the mother.

And the babies? They were caught in limbo and then stripped of their original identities and families and given new ones irreversibly welded through legal instruments. The ultimate intention: mother, father and child would have no knowledge of each other or ever meet again.

Without consent opens the nursery door on these past adoption policies and practices to capture this darker and hidden part of Australian social history. In so doing it ensures that this history, a living history built on the experiences of those directly impacted, is part of the national record.

The exhibition’s primary purpose is to raise awareness about this uncomfortable social legacy and more importantly, as stated in display text, to remind all of us that ‘the impacts and long term effects of forced adoption need to be recognised and acknowledged when considering the future of adoption in Australia’.

There are lessons to be learned and taken aboard especially now with a heightened interest across several governments to increase domestic adoption after many years of decline.

Through text panels, photographs, audio visual touch screens and a limited number of original artefacts the exhibition outlines the social context, language, legislation and personal experiences of those caught up in past adoption policy and practice.

The entry to the exhibition marks a critical reference point – archival footage of the National Apology for Forced Adoptions, that momentous speech delivered with strength and humility by former Prime Minister Julia Gillard in the Great Hall of Parliament House in March 2013.

It includes the National Apology parchment (original in Canberra a copy accompanying the travelling exhibition), the historic document that succinctly contextualises the point of the exhibition for all who enter its space.

Beginning with,‘Today, this Parliament, on behalf of the Australia people, takes responsibility and apologises for the policies and practices that forced the separation of mothers from their babies, which created a lifelong legacy of pain and suffering.’

And ending, ‘We resolve, as a nation, to do all in our power to make sure these practices are never repeated. In facing future challenges, we will remember the lessons of family separation. Our focus will be on protecting the fundamental rights of children and on the importance of the child’s right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.’

The flow of the exhibition is marked by clear short headings: Expectations; Pregnant, Now What?; B.F.A – A Code that Changed Lives; Solving two moral problems – Illegitimacy and Infertility; Separation; A Clean Break; Reconciling a Past – Finding a Future; Keeping a Secret; Finding Family; Contact; Finding a Voice. This creates a cohesive narrative drawn from many personal stories.

Visitors touched by adoption who wish to leave their own picture or elements of their story can do so by using one of the magnets to fix their material to Faces of Past Australian Adoption Practice, two giant panels which have the facial images of the every day people who have an adoption experience.

A sub-theme, given ample coverage, are summaries of key legislation and events governing adoption over time and across states. This is important given each State and Territory have their own laws governing adoption which have been amended multiple times since the first adoption act became law in Western Australia in 1896.

Without Consent is an important rallying point for opening a meaningful discussion about adoption, not only within the context of the past, but also the present, as adoption continues to be actively promoted as a form of family creation. It’s important to recognise that adoption does have long term impacts, some inter-generational, and the loss and grief involved in every adoption needs to be acknowledged and validated for any healing to begin to occur.

The National Archives of Australia, through their Forced Adoption History Project, from which much  exhibition material was drawn, are thanked for competently and compassionately creating this exhibition, and for extending their own apology to those whose lives were changed forever.

The travelling tour itinerary can be found at  http://www.naa.gov.au/visit-us/exhibitions/

Thomas Graham

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