Sunday, February 20, 2011

Our Next Meeting, 5th May 2011.

Our next meeting will be a social meeting for lunch.
We have booked the Sea View Hotel, Pier St Shorncliffe.
Time; 11 30am onwards.
For numbers,please phone Trish; 0417 077 159.
All Welcome.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Senate Inquiry has extended the time frame for submissions to 31st March 2011.

Senate Inquiry into commonwealth Contribution to Former Forced Adoption Policies and Practices.
This is an opportunity that I and others believe will be a great chance to get
Commonwealth Government action, and interest in our struggle for recognition
of what has been done to us, and many thousands of others; mothers, fathers,
children, siblings, grandparents, aunties, uncles and cousins who were separated
unlawfully, unnecessarily and forever from their families.

Some time ago the 'Australian Apology Alliance' requested Jenny Macklin to raise
past adoption practices with her state counterparts after calls for an apology
or inquiry from women coerced into giving up their babies. This was followed by
an AIFS report generally considered to be utterly inadequate, and encouraged the
Alliance to align with several W.A. mothers who approached Labor politician
David Templeman for support, who together with Dr. Kim Hames, the Deputy Premier
of W.A., brought about the now historical apology.
This West Australian Government Apology has created much interest around the
world; the very first government to ever take such an historical and momentous
action to raise public tolerance and understanding of regret for a cruel social
injustice suffered silently for so long, by so many.

A lot of work, time, tears and frustration have gone into this labour of love
for our stolen children, but due to the other states of Australia's apathy,
this Senate Inquiry will be our chance to right the wrongs of this
blot on Australia's history. But, we need more mothers and everyone affected by
the punitive practices of the past to speak up, tell their stories of the pain
and trauma, but if not for themselves, tell for those who are no longer with
us; the mothers who could not take the pain any more, and all those children
who believed that life was not worth living because their mothers "supposedly
gave them away".

Please encourage all your contacts to put some words together, even if only a
couple of paragraphs - remain anonymous or reveal as much as you want. If
everyone wrote a small submission it would take them years to read there were so
many of us, but sadly many won't or can't, but we can encourage, and help those
who feel they do no know how to, and make this last chance a resounding success
and maybe an 'Australia Wide Apology' might come out of this wonderful
opportunity.


Barbara Maison

Apology Alliance