Hon Nick Goiran questions the Minister for Child Protection regarding progress on recommendation 13 of the Senate Community Affairs References Committee concerning former forced adoption policies. The Minister confirms work has commenced and supports a parliamentary inquiry.

AnsweredQoN 284Legislative Council
Asked
21 March 2023
Portfolio
Child Protection

QuestionView source ↗

REGISTRY OF BIRTHS,
DEATHS AND MARRIAGES — ADOPTION ACT
284. Hon NICK GOIRAN to the minister representing the
Minister for Child Protection:
I refer to the response on 17 March
2022 to my question without notice 191 in which the house was informed that the
Department of Communities would be working with the Department of Justice on
recommendation 13 of the Senate Community Affairs References Committee
regarding former forced adoption policies and practices.
(1) Noting that
more than a decade has passed since the recommendation was made, have both
departments now commenced working together on this issue?
(2) If no to (1), why not?
(3) What is the
date of the most recent briefing note or similar document that the department
has provided to the minister on this matter?
(4) Further to (3), will the
minister table that document?

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the member for some notice
of the question. The following response has been provided by the Minister for
Child Protection.
(1)–(4) The Department of Communities advises that work
has commenced. Further, as the minister has reiterated , the McGowan
government supports a parliamentary inquiry into historic forced adoption
practices. The WA government is reviewing the commonwealth Senate and Victorian
parliamentary inquiries and is considering how their recommendations may apply
to the WA community. The trauma and difficulty that these terrible past
practices have caused the mothers of children who were forcibly adopted—the
children who are now adults—and their families is unimaginable. It is
important that we work with them and do all we can to ensure that this does not
happen again.

Explore WA Government Data

Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.

Explore more