- Today marks the 15-year anniversary of Western Australia's formal apology for past forced adoption practices
- Western Australia was the first State to issue an apology in Australia
- State Government is committed to addressing the long-standing impacts of forced adoption practices
Today marks the 15-year anniversary of Western Australia's apology to the many mothers, adopted people and families impacted by past forced adoption practices.
On 19 October 2010, the Parliament of Western Australia was the first in Australia to apologise for the historic harms of past forced adoption practices.
The State Government welcomed the findings of Report 66 - Broken Bonds, Fractured Lives: Report on the Inquiry into Past Forced Adoption in Western Australiaandis committed to ensuring these past wrongs are acknowledged and never repeated.
The State Government supported or supported in-principle the majority of the recommendations from the report.
As an immediate priority, the Western Australian Forced Adoption Reference Group was established to ensure that people with lived experience play a key role in guiding the implementation of recommendations across reforms to legislation, policy, practice and service design.
Comments attributed to Child Protection Minister Jessica Stojkovski:
"Today marks 15 years since Western Australia formally apologised to the many mothers, adopted people and families impacted by past forced adoption practices.
"The Cook Labor Government acknowledges the lifelong trauma and pain caused by past forced adoption practices and is committed to addressing these historic harms.
"We are making good progress on the supported recommendations outlined in Report 66 - Broken Bonds, Fractured Lives: Report on the Inquiry into Past Forced Adoption in Western Australiaand arecommitted to ensuring the remaining supported recommendations are implemented.
"On behalf of the Cook Labor Government, I echo the sentiments from the formal apology in 2010 again today and apologise to the mothers, fathers, adopted people and their families who have been impacted by past forced adoption practices and recognise that the trauma of historic forced adoption continues to impact on their daily lives."
