As you might know it is not often that I feel the urge to get up in front of hundreds of strangers and voice my opinion unless I fell a real injustice has been applied to me.  I was invited to represent a voice from adult adoptees in Western Australia by a collaboration of adoption groups.  All corners of the triangle had been opening acknowledged and addressed other than the adoptees themselves.   Although reluctant to cause difficulties or to assume a voice for all inter-country adoptees, I realise that we all have our own individual opinions and I thought I would tell my story for the the parties that were reluctant to hear the adoptees view any other way.

Last Thursday I addressed a rally outside WA Parliament house about the Adoption Reforms from the perspective of and adoptee.

Sheila McHale is the Minister in WA who covers the Dept of Community Development and is seemingly anti inter-country adoption in her approach.

Rob Johnson and Liz Constable are all in support for non-racially biased amendments.

Well here is a copy anyway.   About 250 turned up.

12th September 2002

I would firstly like to begin by thanking you all for offering me the opportunity to speak to you all today.

For many years now inter country adoptees here in Australia have been moderately quiet.  The main reason for this is due to the fact that we have all been busy growing up.

But we are no longer children.  We no longer require others to speak on behalf of us as the third part in the adoption triangle. We are adults and we have our own voice. I invite you all to hear my voice as

I share with you my first hand perspective as an adoptee on the issue of adoption.

As we, this week remember those lives innocently taken on September 11th last year, let us also remember those who have died in wars before and sadly those who will inevitably lose their lives in present and future wars but let us not just think of the life lost itself but of the many who will forever carry the sorrows of losing those they love.  Those who have lost a mother or father, what is to happen to the many innocent?

We should never lose sight that life is precious, every life is a gift, and if we as governments, societies and individuals can offer another person a chance at being loved, having a family, trusting in them and being respected, then how can we say that this is wrong. How can we say life is wrong?

I was born in 1974. Orphaned at birth and adopted into a white Australian / Dutch family at the age of 1 month. I am now 28 years old.  I consider myself a happy, functional, law abiding citizen of Australia, daughter and sister in a loving family, a wife and a mother to a beautiful child.

My birth parents having either died or having abandoned me was not my choice, I did not leave them.

The fact that I was conceived and born is a miracle beyond explanation, as with all human life.  What my birth was not, was a crime.

For all too often our lives as orphans are seen to be a point of judgment by others as if were on trial.  Yet in our abandonment and loss we are all innocent beyond reproach.

Before I was even born my biological make up had been decided.  An aspect that nothing and no one can change.

So before I talked, before I walked, before I could comprehend the loss of my birth family, my chance at a typical life had been already lost purely due to the circumstances that I was born into.

So what was the reality, what were the options that stood before me in my life as I lay there helpless and unloved. In my birth country the horrors of war have not only left a legacy of environmental devastation, but also a genetic legacy of broken families, mixed race children, disease and disabilities.

I could have been institutionalised, or worse still left to the "dying rooms" starving until I died, perhaps pushed into child prostitution or sold to a beggar to lie drugged, helpless and lifeless.

Maybe I could have survived into adult hood, but more than likely I would have been denied formal education, denied the right to marry a person outside my own social standing, and my subsequent children also abused and discriminated against.

Orphans have committed no crime by having been born, but society will decide our future. By denying access to loving adoptive families orphans we are being punishment, our lives are judged as if we had taken our own birth parents lives.

The common factor in all of these scenarios is the complete lack of love, identity, culture, religion and education. These are purportedly key issues that are considered in adoptions by our government.

Let me quote for you some direct quotes from Ms McHale from Wednesday 14 August in relation to the Second Reading of the Adoption Amendment Bill (No.2) 2002 in her address to the Legislative

Council.

Ms McHale highlights:

Quote" ... The importance of continuing the child's cultural, ethnic, religious or educational arrangements."

These issues are indeed paramount in the negotiations of adoptive placements, however if intent is shown that these are used against or as restrictions unfairly against the placement of needy children with competent, loving families then I will continue to question the underlying agenda being proposed.

It is considerably disconcerting to find amongst the Adoption Amendment Bill (No.2) 2002 Explanatory Memorandum, Clause 29, Sub Clause (2) that some people during the Adoption Legislation Review wanted to further restrict adoption placements to be "culturally consistent".  Is this a restriction based on real concerns or just racial discrimination?

Also the blatant misrepresentations of the needs of overseas orphans to be placed with families when forwarding erroneous statistical information which UNICEF has denied providing. Referencing Clause 30 of the same document.

I would think that any educated person having current knowledge of international events would find it difficult to believe that available applicants of adoptive parents could somehow out number the need of orphans in the world today.

Let us for a moment consider what an institutional "arrangement" can offer in regards to a child's cultural, ethnic, religious or educational future.

Where is there room for the expression of love amongst the hundred of other needy children in an institution?

Equally how can one establish an identity when one has no one to encourage, teach and guide in who and what can achieve as an individual.

Culture is an interesting aspect as there is definitely a unique culture that exists in an institution though it is difficult to understand who, why and how anyone would consider continuing in this culture if there was opportunity to change.

Aspects of religion can be taught, religious knowledge can be conveyed to another, but religion is a deeply personal issue of the heart, mind and soul. As adults we are able to make decisions about our religious beliefs. No one can make you own a belief, no one can take it away. An institution does not own a child's religious soul and no government can barter on the grounds of another religious being.

When another person reaches out across the battlefield of politics, racism, intolerance and denial to save another life, it is an expression of how precious life is.

Adoption does not give or take lives.  What is does offer is a chance at a life full of hope.  Tell me what quality of life do you have without the existence hope?

As for education, formal education may well have been basic and limited for me as a mixed race female orphan had I not been adopted.  In respect to life education it would have been cruel and harsh.

Further in her address to the Council Ms McHale states:

Quote "...The fundamental principle of the Act to highlight that adoption is a service for children.  It is about making the best decisions for a child which will shape the child's life now and into the future"

I would not disagree with this statement, but what is said and what is done can be poles apart.

So in light of this statement I ask you, is it reasonable to force children to stay in institutions when adoption is a valid option? Is it responsible to obstruct the process of adoption when lives are being lost?  Even in our own country we are closing institutions down and encouraging reintegration into the community.  Why?  Because as people we all have similar basic needs of dignity, respect and hope, these are all too often are denied in institutions.

As an adoptee I don't ever expect to fully understand my history and how it has influenced who I am today.

What I do know is that I must not let the injustices of the world close my heart.  As I lament having never known the love of my birth family, I will never under estimate the power of the unselfish love I have received from my adoptive family.

It is through their love and support that I have found the strength to continue to fight for the right to be 'me'.  It was in finding my own sanctuary of love that overflowed from theirs, that I was able to realise my true worth as an individual, and not just a player in world history.

It would always seem that through life's adversities we find true happiness.  I am blessed with being able to agree.

I sincerely thank you all for being here today, for opening your hearts and hearing the present voice of adult adoptees.  I pray that those are unable to be here today, those that are too still too young to be heard and those that are yet to be born will one day have the opportunity to thank you all as I have done today.

Thank you.

Written and Presented by Sue-Yen Bylund (nee Luiten), September 2002.