Joanna Davies was five years old when she learned she was adopted. What she didn’t know was that her birth mother, Lorraine, wanted to keep her. She had signed the paperwork under duress. Lorraine was one of thousands of young, unmarried women whose babies were taken from them without their consent between the 1950s and 1980s. State-sanctioned forced adoptions tore families apart. Some parents and children have been able to reconnect while others simply ran out of time. In this episode, Joanna tells her story and her lawyer, Cameron Tout, explains the need for legislative reform so everyone who has been directly affected by this cruel historical practice can access the compensation they deserve. 

Credits:

Host & Executive Producer: David Lewis

Artwork: Paolo Lim

Sound Design: Output Media 

Sound Recording: River City Studios and Castaway Studios

Restitution is a podcast by Shine Lawyers, inspired by the book The Right Side of Wrong by firm co-founder Stephen Roche.