Adoption Action strongly commends the work of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care and its final report, Whanaketia – Through pain and trauma, from darkness to light.

The courage of the many abuse survivors who shared their harrowing experiences made this report possible. This includes adoption survivors, many of whom are Māori.

However, the Commission’s recommendations do not deal with adoption survivors’ specific needs.

Evidence on adoption

The Commission’s terms of reference covered many different pathways into care settings where abuse took place. These were belatedly expanded to include institutions taking in pregnant single women, and the adoption or foster care placement of their children.

When the Government committed to adoption law reform in 2020, looking at the past was ruled out by the Ministry of Justice, instead recommending that survivors of adoption-related abuse talk to the Royal Commission.

Based on the evidence it heard, the Commission’s report spelt out the injustices and abuse meted out to many single mothers and children under the prevailing regime from 1950 on. Other family members and later generations were also impacted.

Harsh treatment of single pregnant women and mothers “was intended to be a part of reforming the residents into respectable, moral girls and women in the eyes of Christian society”. It included permanently cutting children off from their mothers and birth families, even if the adoption or foster care placement broke down.

The Inquiry heard from many Māori survivors… “that .. one of the biggest tūkino – abuse, harm and trauma – for them was the ‘loss’ of whakapapa.”. (para 293) The report also noted that “Māori survivors were severed from whānau, identity and culture – sometimes intentionally.”. (para 293)

No recommendations about adoption

Many submitters who went through the painful process of giving evidence of adoption-related abuse hoped that as a result, the Commission would respond with specific recommendations, such as:

• recognising past adoption-related abuse and calling for a formal apology, and
• recommending the long overdue reform of New Zealand’s adoption legislation, practice and support services.

But the Commission made no recommendations specifically concerning adoption, past or present. And there is no current indication that the Ministry of Justice will resume work on adoption law reform.

It is now essential to ensure that all adoption-related issues, past and present, will at last be properly dealt with, starting with a formal apology for every form of adoption-related abuse, and thorough reform of adoption legislation, practice and support services.

Adoption Action chronology of 46 years of attempts at reforming adoption legislation:  https://adoptionaction.co.nz/?page_id=631

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