Articles & Factsheets

It’s natural and normal to want to know about your birth family (family of origin). However, adoptees often worry about how connecting with birth family could affect their relationships with their adoptive family.

Across Australia, many people are searching for a lost family member. Sometimes the cause of the separation is adoption, but this is not always the case. In case you are *not* eligible for assistance from VANISH, here is some advice from our team that might be helpful.

Adoption can impact early attachment experiences which can shape our relationships throughout life. Psychologist and adoptee Cheyne Bull explores this impact and how we might move towards more secure attachment.

Loss in adoption can be complicated because it represents an ambiguous loss – the loss of people, and much more, that still exist but are physically or emotionally inaccessible to us. 

This article for friends, partners and loved ones of adoptees helps you understand why adoption isn’t just an interesting backstory—it’s a lifelong journey involving trauma, identity, and complex grief.

Fathers separated from their children by adoption are often erased from adoption narratives—yet many still seek the life-changing connection they were denied.

Searching for family can be a deeply personal and emotional journey. Adoptee and psychologist Cheyne Bull shares what it can be like to support a partner, friend or family member who is going through this process.

Discovering that the person you’ve been searching for has died is a profound and valid loss—even if you never met them. While society may not recognise this grief, there are ways to process it and still connect with who they were.