Adoption Information Bill gains support

Press, 12 October 1982, Page 16

Adoption Information Bill gains support

PA Auckland Support for the Adult Adoption Information Bill has been voiced by Jigsaw, the largest voluntary organisation involved with adoption in New Zealand.

The president of Jigsaw, Ms Maxine Watt, said in Auckland that the bill, which gives natural parents and adopted children easier access to information about each other, was a humanitarian step in response to the needs of a significant minority. ...

“Adequate safeguards are included in the bill,” she said.

“By making access to information easier, however, it would lessen the distress of a secret adoption.”

Many adopted adults and Children wanted information about their natural parents, often for medical history or to establish a true sense of identity, she said.

“Those concerned about the introduction of the bill do not seem to understand that it is only concerned with adults over the age of 20.” Ms Watt said that she was concerned at the image of birth, which mothers had emerged with since the introduction of the bill.

The Prime Minister, Mr Muldoon, had described birth and adoption as a “girlhood” experience. Ms Watt said some members of Jigsaw were war widows when they gave their child for adoption, or were married and could

not cope with an extra c.iild.

“The mothers were not all unmarried schoolgirls and many would love to contact, their child,” she said.

The New Zealand Association of Social Workers has also supported the introduction of the bill and expressed concern that Mr Muldoon has suggested that the counsel ling involved would be “dubious.”

The national president, Ms Gaye Tozer, said adoptees, natural parehts, and adopted parents could be assured that her association will be making representations to ensure that counselling is undertaken only by trained counsellors working under supervision.