A woman who was 20 years old when she gave birth at Crown Street Women's Hospital in Surry Hills has shared her story of having her newborn daughter taken from her without consent, describing the experience as a trauma that has never left her after more than five decades.
When she arrived at the hospital in March 1971, she was determined to raise her child. The birth was difficult; her daughter was breech and required significant medical intervention. In her drugged and disoriented state after delivery, she heard her baby cry but the nurses held a pillow blocking her view. Before she could process what was happening, the baby was taken away.
Abandoned in a hallway, she begged staff to return her child. The hospital matron was unmoved. Because she was an unwed mother without family support, the hospital declared the baby a ward of the state and said she would be adopted. No one informed her of her options. There was no counselling, no consultation, and no consent sought beyond what would follow.
She was transferred to Lady Wakehurst Home, an annex where unwed mothers were kept separate from their babies. Staff gave her sedating medications. A young nurse confided that she might have a chance of keeping her child if she could find family support, but the hospital made her release contingent on signing adoption papers. A week later, desperate for help, she travelled to country NSW to ask her brother and his wife if they would adopt the child so she could at least visit. They declined. The pain of holding her own daughter but being unable to care for her was unbearable.
Single mothers' patient records were marked with acronyms, such as UB- (unmarried, not keeping baby) or BFA (baby for adoption). Her records bore the mark UB-, a bureaucratic label applied without her meaningful choice.
Systematic removal across Australia
Her experience was not isolated. In 2013, Prime Minister Julia Gillard delivered an unconditional apology for the lasting harm caused by forced adoptions, and apologised for the estimated removal of around 250,000 babies from their mothers between the 1950s and the late 1970s. Crown Street Women's Hospital accommodated many single mothers and its staff arranged a high proportion of New South Wales adoptions.
The systematic nature of these practices was later exposed through official inquiry. In 2012 the Australian Senate Inquiry Report into Forced Adoption Practices found that babies were taken illegally by doctors, nurses, social workers and religious figures, and that some mothers were coerced, drugged and illegally had their consent taken.
NSW inquiry findings were damning. The state found that denying mothers access to their children before adoption consent was signed was "unlawful", and that the failure to explain alternatives was "unethical". Many women reported their consents had been secured through threats or coercion.
A delayed and unexpected reunion
Twenty-six years after her daughter's adoption, she received a letter from an agency that helps separated families find each other. Her daughter, now an adult, was looking for her biological mother. The reunion was bittersweet. Her daughter thanked her for the "most cherished and wonderful life", but expressed struggle that the woman "could give me away to two complete strangers". Even though her daughter acknowledged her mother's circumstances, the two have rarely spoken about the full facts of that day.
Only decades later, whilst assembling records for this account, did she discover something that deepened her sense of betrayal. Her father's signature appeared on her prenatal clinic records, giving permission for the hospital to treat her during her pregnancy. He had known of her predicament. He knew and said nothing, did nothing, offered nothing.
Official recognition and ongoing support
The National Apology for Forced Adoptions was made in the Great Hall at Parliament House, Canberra, on 21 March 2013. The apology acknowledged the harm while stopping short of undoing what had been done. The government provides $1.8 million annually for Forced Adoption Support Services which include a national helpline, individualised casework and support, assistance with family searching and records tracing, peer support and access to counselling.
For this woman now 75 years old, the apology came too late to repair the bond fractured on the day her child was taken. She has written her story hoping that Australia will never forget the thousands of vulnerable girls and young women whose babies were removed, whose rights were denied, and whose grief remains unhealed. The memory of her lost daughter sits in a treasure chest in her heart, visited regularly in private grief.
Those affected by forced adoption can seek support through the Department of Social Services Forced Adoption page, which contains information about available services. The detailed Senate inquiry report provides documentation of practices across Australian institutions during this period.