Julia Gillard Apologizes to Australian Mothers for Forced Adoptions

Julia Gillard Apologizes to Australian Mothers for Forced Adoptions

　　Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard recently delivered a historic national apology in parliament to the thousands of unwed mothers who were forced by government policies to give up their babies for adoption over several decades. More than 800 people, many of them in tears, heard the apology and responded with a standing ovation.

　　"Today this Parliament, on behalf of the Australian people, takes responsibility and apologizes for the policies and practices that forced the separation of mothers from their babies, which created a lifelong legacy of pain and suffering," Gillard told the audience. "We acknowledge the profound effects of these policies and practices on fathers and we recognize the hurt these actions caused to brothers and sisters, grandparents, partners and extended family members."

　　A national apology was recommended a year ago by a Senate committee that investigated the impacts of the now-discredited policies. Unwed mothers were pressured, deceived, and threatened into giving up their babies from World War II until the early 1970s so they could be adopted by married couples, which was perceived to be in the children's best interests.

　　Catholic Health Australia, the largest non-government hospital operator in Australia, said the practice of adopting out such children to married couples was regrettably common. Adoption in Australia is mostly controlled by state laws, but the report found that the federal government had contributed to forced adoption by failing to provide unwed mothers with full welfare benefits to which a widow or deserted wife would have been entitled until 1973. The committee could not estimate how many adoptions were forced but said they numbered in the thousands.

 

单亲儿强迫领养　澳洲总理公开致歉

　　澳洲总理茱莉亚‧吉拉德最近在国会上当着全国人民的面向上千位未婚妈妈道歉，数十年来因为政府政策的缘故，这些未婚妈妈被迫放弃自己的孩子而让他们被人领养。在场八百多人听到道歉后以全场起立鼓掌回应，其中许多人更是热泪盈眶。

　　吉拉德对观众表示：『今天国会代表全体澳洲人民，为了那些强迫母亲与婴儿分离的政策与做法负起责任并致歉，那让她们终其一生留下了痛苦和折磨。我们承认这些政策和做法对父亲造成的深远影响，我们也承认这些行为对兄弟姊妹、祖父母、伴侣及大家庭成员所造成的伤害。』

　　澳洲参议院委员会负责调查这项如今被证实为败坏名声的政策所造成的影响，并在一年前建议举办一场向全国人民的道歉会。未婚母亲在第二次世界大战至 1970 年代初期受压迫、受骗及受胁迫而放弃她们的婴儿，好让他们能让一般夫妇收养，此举在当时被视为对孩子是最有利的。

　　澳洲最大的非政府医疗组织 Catholic Health Australia（暂译澳洲天主教医学团体）曾表示将这些小孩交由已婚夫妇收养的习俗相当常见，此现象令人颇感遗憾。澳洲的收养行动主要由国家法律控制，但有报告指出联邦政府一直到 1973 年以前都未能提供未婚母亲一位寡妇或失婚女子该享有的完善社会福利，这也成为强迫收养现象的幕后黑手。委员会无法估计有多少收养案例是在被迫的情形下发生，但他们声称这种案例多达数千起。