Catch 22 for forced-adoption mothers
Mothers forced to give up their babies for adoption have hit a bureaucratic stumbling block in their efforts to force a national inquiry into past abuses.
Officials from the Ministry for Vulnerable Children, Oranga Tamariki, have told them they need to provide written evidence to show their babies were stolen from them in the 1950s and 60s.
But the mothers say many of the records they need have been lost by churches and courts.
Three ministry representatives gave evidence at Parliament yesterday in answer to a petition from Maggie Wilkinson, demanding an inquiry into forced adoption.
They told a social services select committee hearing they were not denying social attitudes at the time, and that ‘‘reluctant adoptions’’ would have occurred.
But, while officials could find records of how many adoptions there were – more than 3000 in 1969, for instance – they did not know how many were reluctant.
National MP Jono Naylor asked the representatives whether it was possible to prove which adoptions were illegal. They said proof would require an examination of historical adoption documents.
But Green MP Jan Logie questioned how that would occur, given women had already told the committee of trying to get adoption records from religious groups, state services and courts ‘‘without satisfactory outcomes’’.
‘‘For these women and their children, there is no functional redress in our system at the moment, is there?’’
The next stage is for the committee to consider its response to the petition.
Ultimately, Wilkinson and her supporters are hoping for a formal apology for forced adoptions, along the lines of the one given to Australian women by then-prime minister Julia Gillard in 2013.
Maggie’s story
Wilkinson became pregnant at 19 to a man who deserted her. She was sent to St Mary’s home for unwed mothers in Auckland in 1964, and put to work in borstallike conditions.
She believes she was drugged to induce labour. Her baby was taken from her at birth and, days afterwards, she was told by a lawyer – a St Mary’s trustee – to swear on a Bible never to try to find her daughter.
That daughter, Vivienne CoryWright, tracked Wilkinson down when she was 17, and was in Parliament yesterday supporting her.
Wilkinson has tried to bring a legal case against the Anglican Church for its treatment of her.
The church investigated and verified her allegations about the unpleasant conditions at St Mary’s. However, it was unable to find records documenting the crucial dates that could prove her allegation that Vivienne was taken before Wilkinson could legally consent to it.
‘‘It’s a joke, because there’s been floods, fires and, as I said at the submission, we were waiting for the pestilence,’’ Wilkinson said.
The courts also could not find records of the adoption.
"She can talk about the weather and the children, but not about that." Gerry Mortimer on his mother being forced to give him up at birth
‘‘We’re not lying’’
Maria Hayward was also put to work in an unwed mothers’ home, before her baby was taken away.
She said state social workers were involved in the adoptions. ‘‘I recall saying: ‘I don’t want to lose this baby.’
‘‘All we are asking for is an inquiry. We don’t want money. If they don’t want to apologise, well, for me, I can live with that. But I really want an inquiry.
‘‘These stories have to be documented – we’re not lying. There are thousands of women who gave up babies and, while we might not have been dragged in chains to sign those pieces of paper, we were emotionally, psychologically, forced.
‘‘And we regretted it: before the signing, during the signing, after the signing.’’
An adoptee’s perspective
Twenty years ago, Gerry Mortimer learned his biological mother had given birth in an unwed mothers’ home – and had actually wanted to keep him.
‘‘She was ostracised. She never told her parents. She never told her family at all.’’
Fifty-three years later, what happened still haunts her, Mortimer said. ‘‘I cannot even talk to her about that. It’s impossible to go there ... she can talk about the weather and the children, but not about that.’’
He said his reunion with his biological parents was ‘‘incredible’’. ‘‘To meet people that look like you and have the same mannerisms as you – it’s a special thing.’’