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Adoption & fostering

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Forced adoption was common in the 1970s.

Drugged and terrified, I heard small cries in the distance. The nurses had taken my baby away

Thousands of unmarried women and girls in Australia had their children forcibly taken from them and adopted out. One woman tells her story.

  • Anonymous

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Kathy Hodgson’s long battle to have her true identify recognised on her birth certificate has come to an end.

It’s been 20 years since Kathy found out her real identity. Now she finally has the proof

A shocking revelation and a DNA test led to a long struggle to get officialdom to catch up with the truth.

  • Claire Moodie
Sarah Cruickshank, former chief of staff to Gladys Berejiklian.

Queensland back-tracks on cutting access to adoption information

The government admitted “deficiencies” in its approach had caused distress to families split up by forced adoptions who wanted to reconnect.

  • Matt Dennien
Dr Jo-Ann Sparrow, president of Jigsaw Queensland, outside the former births, deaths and marriages registry in Brisbane’s CBD.

Ministers ‘deflecting responsibility’ over forced adoption detail fix

Unexpected changes curbing the reconnection of families split under historical child removals frustrated support services. Two months later, so has the state’s response.

  • Matt Dennien
Sara has provided foster care for 400 children in more than 18 years but feels the government has low regard for foster carers.

‘I’ve never felt so disregarded’: After 18 years of foster caring, one decision made Sara quit

Sara has opened her home to hundreds of vulnerable children over 18 years, a state government decision has left her unable to go on.

  • Wendy Tuohy
Rows of babies waiting for overseas adoption in 1984 at the Angel Babies’ Home orphanage in South Korea.

South Korea’s president has apologised to adoptees. They say his words are not enough

Lee Jae Myung has offered a “heartfelt apology and words of comfort”, but Australian adoptees say it must be matched by action to help families reunite.

  • Lisa Visentin
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Recent changes by the state government have now shut-off the methods available to Dr Jo-Ann Sparrow to find her biological family.

Jo-Ann found her mum in 1991. Quiet changes will hurt the chance for others

A shift in Queensland’s approach to allowing adopted people or their families to access information to reunite has cast a shadow over three decades of reform.

  • Matt Dennien
Kathy Hodgson is fighting to have her birth certificate changed.

A false birth certificate and a DNA test: Kathy’s fight to have her real identity recognised

On top of the trauma of discovering she is adopted, Kathy Hodgson is battling bureaucracy to overturn an official lie.

  • Claire Moodie
Ivana Bronlund, 18, at the home she shares with her mother in Hedehusene, Denmark.

‘Wish I’d been given the chance’: She held her baby for an hour, then the state took her away

Since Donald Trump vowed to get Greenland, Denmark has been scrambling to keep Greenlanders on side. But that hasn’t helped one new mother.

  • Jeffrey Gettleman, Maya Tekeli and Amelia Nierenberg
Millie Bobby Brown, 21, and husband Jake Bongiovi, 23, have welcomed their first child, a daughter, via adoption.

Millie Bobby Brown and Jake Bongiovi welcome first child via adoption

The 21-year-old former child actress and the 23-year-old son of Jon Bon Jovi made the surprise announcement in a short statement, one year after their wedding.

  • Itzel Luna