Adoption contact - closed adoptions 1788-1975
In the early years, laws relating to adoption concerned ‘child convicts’ or wards of the State. Other adoptions began to be regulated from 1923, when the process for private adoptions was formalised.
From 1881, the State Children’s Relief Board, which supervised all wards of the state (children taken into the care of the government), could regulate and approve adoption of those children. No laws at the time regulated adoption between private families () and many adoptions were arranged privately between families ().
From 1881 until 1923, the State Children’s Relief Board informally arranged adoptions in NSW for wards of the state (). There were no laws preventing the child’s birth parents from interfering with these adoptions or from contacting the adopting family and child. However, ecause these adoptions were not regulated or registered, few adoption records exist.
In 1909, the Aborigines Protection Act 1909 (NSW) () gave the Aborigines Protection Board powers with respect to Aboriginal children and provided the grounds for them to be removed. However, it did not include adoption as an option for the placement of children. Instead, most Aboriginal children who were removed were placed into apprenticeships (see SUB0040 and SUB0093), institutions (see SUB0102 and SUB0005) or boarded out (see SUB0094).
In 1923, the Child Welfare Act 1923 (NSW) () formalised the process of adoption in NSW and replaced the State Children’s Relief Board with the Child Welfare Department. This Act did not state whether contact between birth parents and the child was permitted, however, it did terminate all rights between them and require the child to take the surname of the adopting parents.
In 1924, this Act was amended to give the court the power to prevent publication of the name of the child when an order for adoption was made ().
The Child Welfare Act 1923 (NSW) was later replaced by the Child Welfare Act 1939 (NSW) (), which created stronger powers for the Child Welfare Department. From the 1940s, there was also a shift from policies of protection to assimilation. As a result, adoption of Aboriginal children became more common.
Adoptions increased dramatically between the 1950s and 1970s. Approximately 17 percent of Aboriginal people forcibly removed through the Stolen Generations were adopted into their new (non-Aboriginal) families ().
Adoptions throughout this time remained closed, and the termination of the relationship between the Aboriginal child and their birth parents was seen as important (, ). Many Aboriginal parents were separated from their children, never to see them again ().
Later, the Adoption of Children Act 1965 (NSW) () required courts to regard the child’s welfare as the most important factor when making decisions. This Act also banned people from arranging their own adoptions and created stronger ‘closed adoptions’, by giving adopted children a new identity and birth certificate tied to their new parents.