My mother was not a young woman but she was abandoned by my father, my grandmother and society. When she attempted to legally revoke her "consent" for my adoption - 19 days after signing a 'Preliminary Application for the adoption of a child' (NSW, 1961)before the Order was before the court and as such exerting her legal rights,  she was lied to and manipulated and my Adoption Order was rushed through the courts the NEXT DAY. 

I have also been following Ms Oberhardt's podcast. As an activist for "adoptees'" rights - as one who now KNOWS my adoption was illegal - and as a researcher who has been studying this 'dark period in our nation's history' and the lived experience of many Australian adult "adoptees" for the last decade, it is time our community was listened to and our stories of trauma, grief and loss were also made public knowledge. 

We hope Ms. Oberhardt's and others' interest in the illegal abuses of the closed records adoption system might now extend to listening to our stories/lived experience too. 

The dominant belief - the dominant narrative produced by the silence/secrecy and covert systemic abuse of what is described as "past" lives on in the present. 

We are, like our mothers, an ageing population who have been silenced by the very nature of our trauma and by the secrecy imposed by a draconian law of patriarchy. 

After the 2013 National Apology, the election of PM Abbott has meant few of the promises made by the Gillard Labor government have come to fruition. Indeed, promises made have NOT been kept. 

Thank you for addressing the horrific abuses and lifelong suffering of an incalculable number of women - not only in Australia, but across the world. 

A