they decided who we'd be. we're still here anyway. your name is yours. Films: The Matrix (1999), Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), Jane Eyre (2011), Good Will Hunting (1997), Gattaca (1997) #Shorts #adoptee #forcedadoption #adoption #movieedit

they told us the past was gone. it isn't. it's just not on the record. Films: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Memento (2000), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), Coco (2017), Blade Runner (1982) #Shorts #adoptee #forcedadoption #adoption #movieedit

they told us we'd been given a home. some of us are still homesick for a place nobody can show us. Films: Garden State (2004), The Wizard of Oz (1939), Paddington (2014), E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Lilo & Stitch (2002) #Shorts #adoptee #forcedadoption #adoption #movieedit

they told the mothers to forget and told us they did. she thought of you every day. Films: The Magdalene Sisters (2002), Philomena (2013), Changeling (2008), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001) #Shorts #adoptee #forcedadoption #adoption #movieedit

you go looking for where you came from and they tell you there's no record that far back. we keep looking anyway. Films: Lion (2016), Blade Runner 2049 (2017), Philomena (2013) #Shorts #adoptee #forcedadoption #adoption #movieedit

they changed the name on the paper and called it a fresh start. nobody asked the baby. Films: Gattaca (1997), Changeling (2008), Total Recall (2012), The Truman Show (1998) #Shorts #adoptee #forcedadoption #adoption #movieedit

Every made thing eventually asks its maker why. Prometheus · Mary Shelley's Frankenstein · Blade Runner · The Truman Show #Shorts #adoptee #forcedadoption #adoption #movieedit

They said: choose life. Nobody asked what happens after. Adoption isn't the happy ending of someone else's argument. It's where our story starts. Juno · Gattaca · Blade Runner 2049 · Never Let Me Go · A.I. · Oliver! · Mary Shelley's Frankenstein · The Cider House Rules #Shorts #adoptee #forcedadoption #adoption #adopteevoices #movieediting

Governments across the US, UK, and Australia are rebuilding the machinery of forced adoption under modern child protection language. By cutting social safety nets, rebranding economic hardship as "parental neglect," and marketing permanent legal severance as kindness, these systems target vulnerable families first—before expanding to everyone. 📖 Read the full essay on Substack: https://thoughtlessdel.substack.com/p/any-family-can-lose-a-child-now #ChildWelfare #ForcedAdoption #Shorts #HumanRights #FamilySeparation #AdopteeVoices #PolicyWarning

Revealing how the British state forced 250,000 unmarried women to give up their babies. Told by the mothers affected, this landmark documentary exposes the forced adoption scandal.

Listen now | Two years today, he passed.

Yothu Yindi's "Treaty" was released on 18 February 1991. The producer credit on that record belongs to Mark Moffatt. Mark Moffatt was my father. I did not learn that from a registry, a caseworker or an agency file. I learned it from a DNA test. He died in Nashville on 6 September 2024, aged 74. I never met him. This episode is not about the coincidence. It is about what sits under it: a country that makes promises in public and does not keep them. "Treaty" named one of those promises in 1991. The National Apology for Forced Adoptions, delivered on 21 March 2013, is the same object thirteen years on — twenty Senate recommendations, a national framework that was never built, birth registers never harmonised, no single point at which an Australian adoptee can be told the truth about their own origin without paying a private company for it. An apology that is not followed by the thing it apologised for is not a reckoning. It is a closing statement. — A NOTE ON ATTRIBUTION "Treaty" belongs to Yothu Yindi and to Yolŋu people. This episode claims a production credit and a fact of paternity, nothing more. Land rights and forced adoption are not the same injury and no equivalence is drawn between them. — KEY DATES 18 February 1991 — "Treaty" released 29 February 2012 — Senate Community Affairs References Committee reports on the Commonwealth's contribution to former forced adoption policies and practices; 20 recommendations 21 March 2013 — National Apology delivered at Parliament House 6 September 2024 — Mark Moffatt dies in Nashville, aged 74 READ THE FULL ESSAY https://thoughtlessdel.substack.com/p/treaty-produced-by-my-father MORE FROM THOUGHTLESS DELINEATION Website: https://bouel.com.au/ Substack: https://thoughtlessdel.substack.com/ Thoughtless Delineation is an independent forensic investigation into adoptee rights, identity erasure and institutional accountability, written by Shane Bouel — a forced adoption survivor. #adopteevoices #forcedadoption #adopteerights #adoption #nationalapology #australia #treaty #adopteestories

The Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, is expected to issue a formal apology on behalf of the British state for its involvement in historical forced adoptions in England and Wales. The announcement follows years of campaigning by mothers, adoptees and families affected by the practice, which was particularly widespread during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. During this period, an estimated 185,000 babies were taken from unmarried mothers, many of whom were pressured or coerced into giving up their children due to social stigma and institutional attitudes towards single motherhood. The apology comes after a parliamentary inquiry by the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR), which concluded in March that government policies had contributed to an environment in which unmarried mothers were often shamed and encouraged to place their children for adoption. The committee recommended that the government issue an urgent apology, improve access to adoption records, and provide greater support for individuals seeking to trace or reunite with their families. However, it stopped short of recommending financial compensation, instead calling for a wider assessment of how other countries have addressed similar historical practices. Sir Keir Starmer is due to meet campaigners at Downing Street before addressing Parliament. The issue has already seen apologies from devolved governments in Scotland and Wales, while Northern Ireland is expected to follow after its own inquiry concludes. The Church of England has also previously issued an apology for its role. Testimonies from affected individuals describe deep emotional trauma, including mothers separated from their babies immediately after birth, and lifelong impacts on families. The apology marks a significant moment in acknowledging state responsibility for past adoption practices and their lasting consequences.

Merchant Law Group LLP has launched class action litigation on behalf of unwed mothers and their children regarding forced adoption which took place in Canada

Full text of the Adoption Apology from The United Church of Canada.

A woman recounts losing her newborn to Crown Street Women's Hospital in 1971, one of 250,000 mothers separated from children by forced adoption in Australia.