Issues Of Aboriginals Adoption

In 2014, Australian welfare officials were found to have kidnapped as many as 14,000 aboriginal children since June of 2013 to be adopted out to families deemed ‘more suitable’. The government of Australia targeted these non-white children in attempt to assimilate them into white culture, and is “based off the same eugenics campaign inspired the Nazis” during World War II (Pilger). Through education and exposure to white culture, the government strives to breed out the ‘savage’ lifestyles of their native heritage Since the idea of ‘good genes’ has since been dubbed unacceptable in terms of morality, the government had to take a different approach in wiping out this culture. The Australian government uses the excuse that these indigenous families are too impoverished to provide proper care to their children. Though sworn to protect its people, the government of Australia has made it near impossible for this race to thrive, making board at indigenous reserves too expensive and even closing down many in attempt to drive out the culture of these aboriginal people.

Aboriginals are the native black race of Australia. The term was given by British immigrants when they began to colonize the country in the eighteenth century. Since then, these two peoples have remained to be two entirely separate entities. Today, most Aboriginals live outside of the parameters of normal terms of civilization. Trachoma, a disease which blinds ingenious children, runs rampant in Australia since it is the only country which has not yet fully eradicated the disease. Reserves are set up for these people, but are often too expensive and overcrowded to successfully live in. Because of this, the average life expectancy for an Aboriginal town not far from the thriving community of Sydney is a mere 37 years old. In a false attempt to help this culture of people which is dying out, the Australian government only allocates $500,000 to helping these struggling families. However, this is nothing compared to the near $80 million dollars that the country spends on the surveillance and removal of the same indigenous children. This system practically forces these people into poverty, insuring that the government can remove children from their parents and excuse it as child protection. Because the government claims to be protecting the child, they need no parental consent to remove the child from the premises. A former worker for a family support organization stated that “In remote areas, officials will go in with a plane in the early hours and fly the child thousands of kilometers from their community. There'll be no explanation, no support, and the child may be gone forever” (Pilger). Many Aboriginals and those who oppose of the act claim another reason: assimilation. They feel that not only is the government attempting to ‘breed out’ the race, they are also feeding the apparent bustling white adoption market for colored children. Recently, the parliament of New South Wales put for a legislation to be debated about the forced adoption of Aborigines. Under this law, children under the age of two could be adopted out if seized for upwards of sixth months. These adoptions would not require the biological parent’s consent.

This same problem happened in Australia during the 1970’s. However, rather than being given to more suitable caretakers, the children were “given to institutions as cheap or slave labor; many were abused” (Pilger). Since then, the Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd half-heartedly atoned for these actions, stating “I want to be blunt about this. There will be no compensation” (Pilger). Despite the apology, this movement has begun once more, but the government uses different euphuisms such as “Stronger Futures”. With the large amount of children seized in this ‘stolen generation’, the Aborigines may soon cease to exist at all.

Although corporate media had touched on this issue when it occurred in the 1970’s, little to no news coverage has occurred over the new movement of these seizures. However, many journalists have devoted themselves to researching and reporting on this subject. The chaos occurring within the Aborigines over this act has been reported in many small newspaper chains such as Britain’s The Guardian. The process is also taught in some degree to Australian schoolchildren on online learning sites like Skwirk. Though the government of Australia allows the world to know the legalities of their movement, as of October, 2014, no national broadcasts have been made to show what these legislations entail for the Aboriginal people.