Reply from Hon Phil Reeves, Minister for Child Safety to our letter in regards to Mothers obtaining an Original Birth Certificates at the time their babies were born, and before adoption order was in place.

Hon Phil Reeves
Member for Mansfield.
Minister for Child Safety and Minister for Sport.

20 FEB 2012

Adoption Loss Adult Support Australia Inc

Thank you for your letter of 30 January 2012 concerning the effect that the provisions of the now repealed Adoption of Children Act 1964 had on the issuing of original birth certificates.

There were no provisions contained in the repealed Act preventing a child's birth parents from applying for and purchasing a copy of their child's birth certificate before an adoption order was made. As you would be aware, in past decades many children were adopted approximately 10 days after their parents consented to the child's adoption. It appears that birth parents may not have been informed that they were entitled to apply for a copy of their child's birth certificate prior to the child being adopted and that consideration may not have been given as to whether a child's birth parents may wish to apply for their child's birth certificate after consenting to the adoption and prior to the child being adopted. Although this appears to be the case, I cannot confirm what occurred as only minimal records about adoption practices in Queensland in past decades remain.

I am able to advise that under the repealed Adoption of Children Act 1964, the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages was provided with information about all adoption orders made in Queensland and were required to keep an Adopted Child Register. If the adopted child was born in Queensland, the Registry was required to seal the child's original birth certificate when advised of the adoption. After sealing the original certificate, the Registry was required to issue an amended birth certificate for the child including the child's adoptive name and listing the adoptive parents as the child's parents. After an adoption order was made, the child's original birth certificate remained sealed, thereby preventing any person, including the child's birth parents, from being able to access the certificate without authorisation from the Chief Executive (after the adopted person reached 18 years of age) or an order of the Supreme Court in limited circumstances.

I appreciate how important it is for birth parents who have consented to their child being adopted in Queensland, to be able to have a copy of their child's original birth certificate to document their relationship with the child and the child's birth.

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This issue was considered when developing the Adoption Act 2009, which commenced on 1 February 2010 in Queensland and replaced the repealed Adoption of Children Act 1964. Under the current Act, a birth parent continues to be able to apply for and purchase a copy of his or her child's original birth certificate from the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages before an adoption order is made. In addition, under the Act, birth parents are now entitled to obtain a copy of their child's original birth certificate at any time after an adoption order is made. If a birth parent makes a request to Adoption Services Queensland for authorisation to obtain a copy of his or her child's original birth certificate, Adoption Services Queensland must provide the parent with the authorisation. The birth parent may then present the authorisation to the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages and apply for and purchase a copy of the child's original birth certificate. Upon receipt of an authorisation and application, the Registry of Births, Deaths and Marriages must provide the birth parent with a copy of the child's original birth certificate.

Another provision within the Adoption Act 2009 now enables a birth parent and a child's adoptive parents, where both parties agree, to receive identifying information about each other and authorisation to obtain a copy of the child's amended or original birth certificate, as applicable, before the child is 18 years of age. Once an adopted child reaches 18 years of age, Adoption Services Queensland is able to authorise the Registry to provide a birth parent with his or her child's amended birth certificate, without first requiring permission from the adoptive parents.

I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the support you and members of Adoption Loss Adult Support Australia Inc provide to people affected by adoption and to thank you and your members for your input into the development of the Adoption Act 2009.

If you require any further information or assistance in relation to this matter, please contact Ms Kathryn Scott, Acting Manager, Quality Care Programs, Child Protection Development, Communities, Child Safety, Youth and Families, Department of Communities on
3247 3693.

I trust this information is of assistance.

Yours sincerely

Phil Reeves MP
Minister for Child Safety
and Minister for Sport
Member for Mansfield
111 George Street Brisbane
GPO Box 806 Brisbane Queensland 4001 Australia
Telephone +61 7 3224 7477
Facsimile +61 7 3210 2190
Email childsafety@minsterial.qld.gov.au
Website www.childsafety.qld.gov.au

AUSTRALIAN CENSUS FORM FOR 2011.

On this form,one question for females was,"how many children did you give birth to?"
Are they our children or not?

IS HONESTY THE BEST POLICY?

Where adoption is concerned, it is not!

Australia has Two Birth Certificates for children who have been adopted.

The first Birth Certificate has a true record of a baby's birth and parent/parents but is marked,"NOT TO BE USED FOR OFFICIAL PURPOSES".
The second Birth Registered Certificate holds a record of the new parents and that is accepted as the "OFFICIAL BIRTH CERTIFICATE".
Both of these certificates are registered at Birth, Deaths and marriages offices.

Therefore the childs identity has been forever changed and the mother who gave birth to this child has been eliminated.

THEIR HISTORY HAS BEEN CHANGED.

The Australian Government further adds to this by;
on a death Certificate of the mother, (her child who has gone to adoption)is not recognised as being, "born to her".

On a Death Certificate of the child, the new parents names are listed.

This ensues that for all future generations of both mother and child, their genetic link/ genetic blood line to their family of original is permanently severed.

The Australian Government has altered the natural history of its people,of its country!

The Geneva Convention of human rights of a child states, " The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and, as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents."

One of our members often says,,"The truth becomes the lie and the lie becomes the truth".
She should know as she has lived it every day of her life.

A better solution to adoption would be Permanent Guardianship.

The child would not have to lose his/her heritage and infertile couples would have a child.

Updated Link for Senate Inquiry Submissions Page

Please click here:
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate_Committees?url=clac_ctte/comm_contrib_former_forced_adoption/submissions.htm

Original Birth Certificates of babies who were later to be adopted.

ALAS Australia Inc asked for the following information.

ALAS is writing to you to obtain conformation on the adoption Act of 1964 in regards to Original Birth Certificates of babies who were later adopted.

We understand that with issuing a second birth certificate, and with the secrecy placed around adoption, that once consent forms were signed and adoption orders made, the privacy law came into place.

However, when our babies were born to us, there was no consent form signed or adoption order in place.
The original Birth Certificate should have been given to the mother as; both mother and baby were free from any form of adoption at that time, (at their birth.)

There was no identifying information about adoptive parents on the original Birth Certificate; in fact there was no involvement at all, as there was no court order in place.

Therefore, we would like to know the reason why a new mother was denied her original Birth certificate for her new born baby. We know the entry of birth happened the next day after the birth while mother was still the legal guardian of her baby.

Where in the law does it state that we were not entitled to have our baby’s legal Birth Certificate from the time of their birth to when the court order came into place? They were OUR BABIES!

Our answer from Brisbane Births, Deaths and Marriages;
Up until the time B/D/M received a copy of the adoption order,THERE WAS NO REASON MOTHERS COULD NOT HAVE THEIR BABIES BIRTH CERTIFICATES.
The reason we did not get them?
WE HAD TO APPLY FOR IT!
ANOTHER THING WE WERTE NOT TOLD!

35,766 Queensland adoptions from 1945 to1980.

With the National Principals for overseas adoptions listed on our previous post, we ask,"were there any National Principals in place to protect Australian mothers?"
"Did Australian Mothers not matter?"

1945-1946 Number of adoptions; 852
1946-1947 Number of adoptions; 766
1947-1948 Number of adoptions; 768
1948-1949 Number of adoptions; 879
1949-1950 Number of adoptions; 786
1950-1951 Number of adoptions; 851
1951-1952 Number of adoptions; 860
1952-1953 Number of adoptions; 819
1953-1954 Number of adoptions; 756
1954-1955 Number of adoptions; 662
1955-1956 Number of adoptions; 783
1956-1957 Number of adoptions; 765
1957-1958 Number of adoptions; 771
1958-1959 Number of adoptions; 852
1959-1960 Number of adoptions; 865
1960-1961 Number of adoptions; 814
1961-1962 Number of adoptions; 872
1962-1963 Number of adoptions; 927
1963-1964 Number of adoptions; 1084
1964-1965 Number of adoptions; 1266
1965-1966 Number of adoptions; 1398
1966-1967 Number of adoptions; 1386
1967-1968 Number of adoptions; 1371
1968-1969 Number of adoptions; 1448
1969-1970 Number of adoptions; 1500
1970-1971 Number of adoptions; 1562
1971-1972 Number of adoptions; 1774
1972-1973 Number of adoptions; 1678
1973-1974 Number of adoptions; 1458
1974-1975 Number of adoptions; 1394
1975-1976 Number of adoptions; 1112
1976-1977 Number of adoptions; 1014
1977-1978 Number of adoptions; 660
1978-1979 Number of adoptions; 563
1979-1980 Number of adoptions; 450
Total adoptions;35,766

This research is from Annual report of the Director Dept of Children's Services by J Clarke who has make every effort to provide quality information.

ALAS asks, "Why has the number of adoptions been shown in a financial year?"

Closing date for inquiry 29th February 2012

Submissions Received for the Senate Inquiry into Commonwealth Contribution to Former Forced Adoption Policies and Practices.
There are now 410 submissions on line.
If you would like to read the submissions and answers to the Senators questions for the Senate Inquiry, please click here:
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate_Committees?url=clac_ctte/comm_contrib_former_forced_adoption/submissions.htm