WERE YOU BIRTHED OR SCHEDULED?

A NEW BABY? HOW EXCITING!!!!!
WHEN YOU ARE BORN,YOU HAVE A BIRTH CERTIFICATE.
EVERYONE HAS ONE,DON'T THEY?
WELL,NOT EVERYONE.
IF YOU ARE ADOPTED,THE PAPERWORK, "THE CERTIFICATE" HAS THE WORD SCHEDULE ON IT,INSTEAD OF THE WORD BIRTH.
UNLESS SOMEONE POINTS IT OUT TO YOU, YOU WOULD NEVER KNOW OR INDEED NOTICE THAT YOUR CERTIFICATE IS DIFFERENT TO OTHER PEOPLE'S PAPERWORK............PEOPLE,THAT IS,WHO WERE NOT BORN OUT OF WEDLOCK.

THE LAW ONLY CHANGED IN 1991, THAT ENABLED ADOPTEES AFTER OBTAINING THEIR ADOPTIVE PARENT'S WRITTEN PERMISSION,MIND YOU, TO ACCESS THEIR CORRECT RECORDS PROVIDING THERE HAD BEEN NO VETO PUT ON THE RECORDS.

A NEW BEGINNING.......HARDLY.

ACROSS THE ORIGINAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE IS A NASTY LARGE RED RUBBER STAMP WHICH STATES, "NOT TO BE USED FOR OFFICIAL PURPOSES" OR WORDS TO THAT EFFECT.

OKAY, YOUR ORIGINAL CHRISTIAN NAME IS THERE, WITH THE NAME OF YOUR BIOLOGICAL MOTHER,HOWEVER, THE NAME OF YOUR BIRTH FATHER IS NEVER RECORDED, EVEN IF IT IS KNOWN.

A NEW BEGINNING.........HARDLY!!!!!!

UNTIL NOW, ADOPTEES HAD VERY LIMITED RIGHTS.

ON THE 1st FEBRUARY, 2010, NEW ADOPTION LAWS WERE LAUNCHED AT PARLIAMENT HOUSE HERE IN BRISBANE.

MORE THAN 3,000 QUEENSLANDERS WILL BE ABLE TO VIEW INFORMATION THEY WERE PREVIOUSLY BANNED FROM SEEING.

HOWEVER, ACCORDING TO ADOPTION CAMPAIGNERS, THE CHANGES ARE A "BAND-AID SOLUTION TO A BROKEN LEG" AS ADOPTEES WHO VIEW THE DOCUMENTS FIRST MUST SIGN A WAIVER SAYING THEY WILL NOT CONTACT THEIR PARENTS, OR HOLD THE GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY PAST DECISIONS.

IT IS A NATURAL BIRTH RIGHT TO KNOW WHO YOU ARE.

IF YOU ARE NOT AN ADOPTEE, YOU SIMPLY TAKE IT FOR GRANTED.

FOR EXAMPLE;

YOU KNOW YOUR MEDICAL HISTORY, AND THAT OF YOUR FAMILY.
YOU GO TO A MEDICAL PRACTITIONER, THEY ALWAYS ASK FOR YOUR FAMILY HISTORY.
MOST PEOPLE CAN RATTLE OFF THINGS, SUCH AS AUNT BESSIE HAD DIABETES, UNCLE ALF HAD DEMENTIA, HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE OR STROKE KILLED MY FATHER.

THE LIST GOES ON.......
EVEN WHEN LIFE INSURANCE IS TAKEN OUT, THERE ARE ALWAYS QUESTIONS REGARDING FAMILY MEDICAL HISTORY. THE ANSWERS TO THESE QUESTIONS EFFECT YOUR PREMIUM.

THE ADOPTEE ONLY CAN SAY, "I DON'T KNOW, I AM ADOPTED".

THIS NEW LEGISLATION, WHILE MOST WELCOME DOES NOT GO FAR ENOUGH IN ADDRESSING THE NEEDS OF ADOPTEES.

A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION......YES.

A NEW BEGINNING........NOT REALLY.


Lorraine

Establishing the Legality of a Veto

If you have an existing veto placed before 1990 consider this;

To our knowledge,an estimate 10 in 100 are unlawfully tended vetoes.

If an adopted person does not know he/she is adopted and there is a veto, it could have been placed with the adoptee's name on it but without their consent.

There was no need to provide proof of identity to show it was actually the adoptee who placed the veto, therefore
the secret of his/her adoption would stay hidden forever.

This means, the adoptee may never know of the veto.

Their real birth identity, birth parents, family and heritage would be lost to them.

Is this fair?

Before signing the new No Contact Form, contact the Department of Child Safety to have them establish the legality of the veto and to ensure it was a lawfully tended document by the person in question.

Launch of Queensland's New Adoption Laws and Post Adoption Support Services At Parliament House

Five ALAS(Adoption Loss Adult Support) and three WASH(White Adoptees Stolen Heritage) members along with other groups involved with adoption, were invited to the launch of the new Adoption Laws and Post Adoption Support Services, (PASQ) at Parliament House on 1st February 2010.

Minister Phil Reeves MP,The Benevolent Society,Mr. Richard Spencer and President of Jigsaw, Trevor Jordan spoke at the opening.

PASQ has been established with an investment of $1.2 million over three years.
Jigsaw is a government sponsored group.

Here are some of the major changes;

The Act requires a child's mother and father and every person who is a guardian of the child to freely and voluntarily consent to the child's adoption.The Act includes a number of measures designed to ensure a person's consent is both informed and given voluntarily. For example, a parent can only consent to their child's adoption after they have received written information about adoption that includes alternatives to adoption and financial support available to them. The Act requires that this information must be explained through pre-consent counselling.

In addition, the Act allows for adoption care agreements to be made for a child for up to one year, while parents consider providing consent to their child's adoption.Past experience and research indicates parents need time to consider all care options available to help ensure consent to a child's adoption is only obtained once a parent has had time to fully explore all the issues and options for their child's care.

The Act provides parents with a revocation period of 30 days from the time the initial consent to an adoption is provides. Information and counselling will be provided to parents to ensure that they understand the consent process and their right to revoke consent within this timeframe, as part of pre-consent counselling.

The new law balance people's right to information about their birth parent, son or daughter who was adopted with the right of others to maintain their privacy.

Previously more than 3000 Queenslanders affected by adoption that occurred before 1991 were prevented from obtaining identifying information about their birth parent or son or daughter who was adopted.
The new law will give these people the right to access information about their own identity or that of a son or daughter for the first time.

PASQ phone; 07 3112 5182 or 1300 914 819.
pasq@bensoc.org.au

For more information;www.childsafety.qld.gov.au

Our next meeting 20th February 2010

This meeting will be held northside Brisbane.

We are delighted to have as our guest speaker, the Team Leader from PASQ (Post Adoption Support Queensland).

We are looking forward to hearing how this new Support Services will be of benefit to us.
With the new Adoption Law changes, most mothers and adoptees will now have the opportunity to have information previously denied to them.

For address details;
Please phone Trish; mob.0417 077 159.or
Marg; mob.0402 336 480.
Time; 12 o'clock
Please bring a plate.
A gold coin donation would be appreciated.