“Nation Leading” Redress Scheme for Forced Adoptions Announced by Tasmanian Government.
We welcome Premier Rockliff’s announcement today (Trauma-informed redress scheme for historical forced adoption practices to be established | Premier of Tasmania) that the Tasmanian Government will establish a “nation leading” redress scheme to provide a trauma informed avenue for redress payments for mothers who were subject to historical forced adoption practices.
Angela Sdrinis Legal has been acting pro bono for a group of 18 women who have been waiting for acknowledgement for decades. Apart from the anguish of being forced to give up their babies, many of our clients suffered barbaric practices including:
Having their breasts bound or being injected with medication to prevent lactation;
Having objects held over their face to prevent them either from making noise during the labour, or from seeing their baby;
Having a gas mask used on them to prevent them from seeing their baby;
Having their arms and legs tied during the labour, or being placed in stirrups during the labour;
Undergoing an episiotomy without consent;
Being denied pain relief during labour because ‘good people are given pain relief, not girls like [our client]’;
Being given an enema without consent; and,
Being unnecessarily sedated during and/or after the labour.
Earlier this year, we settled a test case for one of our clients in the Tasmanian Supreme Court and we have been in discussions with the State Government since then with a view to resolving the remainder of our clients’ matters and whilst we welcome the announcement of a redress scheme which will hopefully avoid further litigation for our client group, it is important that the redress amount is set at a figure which is fair and reasonable and which adequately compensates our clients for their lifetimes of suffering.
It is also important that any arrangements occur swiftly as our clients are elderly and have a variety of physical and mental health conditions related to decades of trauma. Sadly, one of our clients passed away earlier this year and another is seriously unwell.
We call on the government to establish the scheme swiftly and for it to provide fair and reasonable compensation for our clients.