Joint Committee on Human Rights Inquiry
July 2022
July 2022 | The Violation of Family Life: Adoption of Children of Unmarried Women 1949–1976
The Joint Committee on Human Rights launched its inquiry The right to family life: adoption of children of unmarried women 1949–1976.
The Adult Adoptee Movement welcomed the report and its recommendations specifically in relation to challenging the Government’s denial of responsibility for the practice of forced adoption. However, we felt the focus was on the birth mothers’ needs rather than on adoptees, and have issued our own formal response.
Purpose of the inquiry
The Joint Committee of Human Rights launched its inquiry The right to family life: adoption of children of unmarried women 1949–1976.
It sought to examine whether adoption processes respected the human rights, as we understand them now, of the mothers and children who experienced them, as well as the lasting consequences on their lives.
No meaningful choice
To understand the situation faced by unmarried mothers whose children were adopted without them having a meaningful choice.
Current practice
The inquiry recognised women continue to have similar experiences beyond the date parameters of the inquiry, and their written evidence was accepted,