[D66] Health care in Australia ... Catholic Church sorry for forced adoption

[Ernst Debets]

Tja Henk,

 

Ze namen het Down Under niet zo nauw met bepaalde mensenrechten. We wisten
al dat Aboriginals nog steeds als tweederangs mensen behandeld worden,
alhoewel hun situatie beter is dan 30 jaar geleden. Ook dit gedrag van de
Roomse Kerk verbaast me niet. Er zal ook wel weer een beerput met misbruik
opengaan (of valt dit artikel hier ook onder?).

Toch blijft het afgezien van dit soort zaken een mooi land al zijn de
inwoners ("former covicts") van een speciaal slag.

 

Bovenstaande + dit artikel zal mij er niet van weerhouden om in september
voor de 5e keer sinds 1993 naar dit land af te reizen..

 

Ernst Debets/

Zaanstad

 

Van: d66-bounces at tuxtown.net [mailto:d66-bounces at tuxtown.net] Namens Henk
Elegeert
Verzonden: maandag 25 juli 2011 18:31
Aan: informele D66 discussielijst
Onderwerp: [D66] Health care in Australia ... Catholic Church sorry for
forced adoption

 

 
<http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/catholic-church-sorry-for-for
ced-adoption-20110725-1hvzh.html> Catholic Church sorry for forced adoption

Lisa Martin

July 25, 2011

 

AAP

Her son grew up to be a man. What kind of man? Juliette Clough doesn't know.

She was just 16 when she was forced to give up her baby boy at a
Catholic-run hospital in Newcastle in 1970.

"They just snatched away the baby," she said on Monday, adding at the time
her ankles were strapped to the bed and she had been "gassed".

 

"You weren't allowed to see him or touch him, anything like that, or hold
him and it was just like a piece of my soul had died, and it's still dead."

Her son is now 42 years old.

"I constantly think and imagine what his life would be like, whether he
married and whether I have any grandchildren," Ms Clough said in a statement
to a Senate inquiry into forced adoptions.

Ms Clough is one of at least 150,000 Australian women who reportedly had
their babies taken against their will by some churches and adoption
agencies.

On Monday in Newcastle, the head of the healthcare arm of the Catholic
Church apologised to the victims of forced adoption practices dating back 50
years.

The apology follows an admission by Catholic Health Australia that "a small
number" of church-run hospitals and women's homes maintained unwanted
adoption practices from the 1950s to the 1970s.

CEO Martin Laverty said he is prepared to front a Senate inquiry to make an
expression of sorrow and regret if such an apology brought healing and
comfort to the women who had their newborns forcibly removed.

"It's with a deep sense of regret, a deep sense of sorrow that practices of
the past have caused ongoing pain, suffering and grief to these women, these
brave women in Newcastle but also women around Australia," Mr Laverty said.

Mr Laverty said his organisation only became aware of the women's
experiences in June.

"These practices of the past are no longer tolerated, nor by today's laws,
and are deeply regrettable," he said in a submission to an upper house
committee investigating the Commonwealth's contribution to former forced
adoption policies and practices.

"We acknowledge the pain of separation and loss felt then and now for the
mothers, fathers, children, families and others involved in the practices of
the time."

"For the pain that arises from practices of the past, we are genuinely
sorry."

In some cases, the adoption practices had been "devastating and had ongoing
impacts" on families.

Ms Clough said her life has been shattered since her baby was taken.

She married later and gave birth again but the forced separation of her
firstborn made it difficult to fully bond with her subsequent children.

Suffering deep depression, Ms Clough said she continued to find it difficult
to be the mother "I wanted to and should have been."

Catholic Health Australia is prepared to support the setting up of a
framework that would allow the victims of forced adoption to get access to
personal medical or social work records to help contact lost family members.

It would also support a fund for "remedying established wrongs"

"

Health care in Australia ... 

Zo hebben we hier ook jongerenbeleid overigens waarbij jongeren zelf
'gedwongen' (in de kerk) mee moeten zingen in wat de hobby van hun ouders
zij .. 

Henk Elegeert

 

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