Dear Members and Friends of VANISH
APOLOGIES
It is shaping up to be a big year. You will have
read in my last bulletin to you that the Victorian
State Government is preparing to apologise to
the adoption community. We believe that
Minister Mary Wooldridge will undertake some
consultation in August with a view to the Apology
being in late October. As soon as we have formal
confirmation of this news we will let you
know. As well the Federal Attorney General has
established a Reference Group to consult the
adoption community about a proposed Federal
Apology early in 2013, VANISH Chairperson
Leigh Hubbard will be on this group and will
keep you informed of progress. Meanwhile the
South Australian Apology is on the VANISH website
and is good reading and will very soon be
followed by Apologies from the ACT and from
Tasmania.
There are of course 19 other recommendations
in the Senate Inquiry into ‘former forced adoption
policies and practices’ and we welcome your
feedback to VANISH on all these matters. We
are particularly keen to hear from you about your
opinions on legislation amendment – please
email me at manager@vanish.org.au. The full
report is on our VANISH website.