Adoption Deception: A personal and professional journey
What is it like to be adopted, have your identity changed and never feel quite at home in your new family, despite being loved? What is it like to become a social worker and be faced with the challenges and consequences of other adoptions every day? What is it like to hear the moving National Apology for Forced Adoptions by Prime Minister Julia Gillard in 2013 only to be faced a few months later by a new prime minister intent on forgetting all the lessons learnt and championing a deregulated parent-centred market-driven adoption industry?
Penny Mackieson takes us on her journey with the unique perspective of both an adopted person and a professional who worked in intercountry adoption for over a decade. She unravels the complexities, debunks the myths, analyses the policies and raises important questions about the ethical and human rights dilemmas in adoption.
Adoption Deception: A personal and professional journey is a passionate, heart-wrenching and unflinchingly honest account of one woman’s life as an adopted person and her campaign for change. The author presents a compelling argument for Permanent Care instead of adoption for vulnerable children unable to be raised by their families in the light of continuing issues of exploitation, identity loss and the priority given to adults’ wishes over children’s rights.
2015 | ISBN 9781742199740 | Paperback | 178 pp
In The News
Penny Mackieson in The Guardian. ‘I never felt right’: DNA tests reveals Melbourne woman introduced to wrong ‘biological mother’.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Preface by Coleen Clare xi
Introduction 1
1 A brown-eyed baby girl
2 A chronology of adoption in Australia
3 A social worker in intercountry adoption
4 Apology or hypocrisy?
5 A campaign
Introduction
5.1 Newspapers
5.1.1 Intercountry adoption
5.1.2 Local adoption
5.1.3 Surrogacy
5.1.4 Sperm and egg donation
5.2 Women’s magazines
5.3 Politicians, policy influencers and decision makers
5.3.1 VANISH
5.3.2 World Vision
5.3.3 Politicians
5.4 Other media
Conclusion
6 Where to from here for adoption in Australia?
Appendix I: Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s National Apology
Speech including the National Apology for
Forced Adoptions (21 March 2013) 151
Appendix II: Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s Speech
(21 March 2013)
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
Reviews
This is a powerful and passionate book about the personal and political aspects of adoption. While it is overwhelmingly negative about adoption and the author believes the practice is outdated and should cease, she does present strong arguments for her case.
—Sue Bond, Australian Women's Book Review
An impassioned statement about the dangers of an Australian policy that could put the needs of couples seeking to adopt children from other countries above the actual needs of the children involved...I recommend this book to all those involved in discussions and decision-making about children potentially taken from their birth mothers.
—MdBrady, Me, You, and Books
Adoption Deception is a deeply personal account challenging our response to the commercialisation of children through adoption and assisted reproduction technologies. Buy it ASAP: this is a classic.
—Katrina Kincade-Sharkey, North and West Melbourne News
Penny Mackieson’s book Adoption Deception is a well-researched documentation of adoption denial in Australia. By denial we mean that the complex issues associated with the separation of mother and child is ignored in favour of the needs of those who wish to create a family at all costs, the book reinforces the Origins perspective that adoption only serves the needs of those that choose or unable to have their own children.
Lily Arthur Coordinator of SPSA Inc, Supporting People Separated by Adoption
Adoption Deception is a deeply personal account of the experience of adoption, and the effect it can have into adulthood. It is a story of how family relationships can be influenced by adoption policies and practices. It challenges us to think about how we respond to the 'commercialisation of children' through adoption and assisted reproductive technologies.—
—Professor Marie Connolly Chair and Head of Social Work, The University of Melbourne
Penny Mackieson provides a well-researched and passionate account of adoption, surrogacy and egg and sperm donation in Australia. Weaving her personal and professional experiences in adoption with her analysis of the political landscape, Penny urges us to think more critically about adoption, surrogacy and reproductive technologies. Adoption Deception calls us to rethink adoption from the perspective of the children who must live with the long-term impact of broken connections with family and identity. It is important reading for anyone interested in critical and compassionate insights into the impact of adoption, surrogacy and reproductive technologies.
—Professor Karen Healy, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, University of Queensland
This is a lightning rod of a book, one that will summon thunderclaps of applause and disapproval. I am not saying I agree with the argument the author makes; I am saying I admire the naked personal honesty with which she makes it. Whatever viewpoint you have at the end of this book, I guarantee you this – you will think, and feel, more deeply about the issue of adoption.
—Martin Flanagan, author and 'Age' journalist