Forced Adoption in New Zealand - Nights with Bryan Crump

Earlier this week (22 August 2013), Radio NZ's 'Nights' host Bryan Crump featured a program focusing on the issue of forced adoption in New Zealand. Featuring interviews from those who have had various experiences with forced adoption (including yours truly) and a discussion panel with Kevin Hague MP with the Greens Party and Ann Else, an adoption researcher, it was an interesting look at how this issue is seen by different persons.

To listen to the program for yourself, the audio is available here

Piece of My Heart - NZ Film

"Piece of my Heart" is a New Zealand film based on the true stories of women who experienced forced adoption in the late 1960's. Available to purchase by ordering at leading DVD stores.  Visit the website for more information on the movie.

Synopsis

Flora Thornley has been in hiding for most of her life. In 1968 when she was seventeen, Flora had a daughter and gave her up for adoption. She has never told anyone, including her husband and two grown sons. But now, she has contacted her daughter for the first time and gets a brutal rejection letter in reply.

Devastated, Flora runs away from home to the only person she thinks will understand. Kat was her closest friend in the home for unmarried mothers where they both gave birth in 1968, but they haven’t seen each other since. Meanwhile, their lives have been very different, and Kat’s place isn’t the safe haven Flora hopes it will be. Also living there is Ani, a stroppy teenager two weeks away from giving birth and in complete denial about the reality of life with a baby.
As Flora writes to her daughter, explaining how and why a woman could give away her baby, we go back to 1968 and learn what really happened. In the present, Flora has to face up to what a life of deception has done to her as she tries to reconnect with Kat, deal with Ani and tell her husband Mike the truth after thirty years of lying.

PIECE OF MY HEART is a drama about reconciliation – between the present and the past, between a mother and her child, between a husband and a wife. Adoption is a part of so many New Zealand families and their stories – this is the story of one particular woman as she finally acknowledges the past in order to change the future.

PIECE OF MY HEART is written and directed by Fiona Samuel adapted from the novel 'Does This Make Sense To You?' by Renee. The four leading roles are played by Annie Whittle (THE WORLD’S FASTEST INDIAN), Rena Owen (ONCE WERE WARRIORS), Emily Barclay (IN MY FATHER’S DEN) and Keisha Castle Hughes (WHALE RIDER).

The Adoption Act 1955

You can read the entire legislation of the Adoption Act 1955 through this website.

Adoption (NZ) in the early 2000's

From the "Encyclopedia of New Zealand"

Adoption rules

Adoption in New Zealand remained regulated by the Adoption Act 1955, which set up the governing framework.

To read the section in its entirety, please visit the page here.

Change.org petition - Inquiry into New Zealand Adoption Act polices and practises

Have you been affected by the Adoption Act 1955?  We are gathering signatures to put forward to the government to convey the need for an Inquiry into the policies and practises of the New Zealand Adoption Act 1955.

Please sign and pass along.

Thank you!

Petition can be found here.