Just two months ago, former NSW Supreme Court judge James Wood delivered his three-volume report into the Department of Community Services (DOCS) making 11 recommendations for remedial action. His 1,000-page door-stopper was a clinical assault on the financially neglected, under-staffed and under-performing department.
Perhaps its most appalling finding was that 14,000 children taken from their parents are currently living in foster care, and the numbers are expected to rise to almost 20,000 by 2012. Included in the number of children taken from their birth mothers are 4,000 Aboriginal children, which almost gives them the status of “Stolen Generation Mark II”.
The newly-appointed DOCS Minister is Linda Burney, the former director-general of the NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs and the first Aboriginal woman elected to the NSW Legislative Assembly. Against this background, Burney has decided to use her powers as a minister to ask a standing committee of the NSW parliament to conduct an inquiry into one of the burning issues of her portfolio — adoption by same s-x couples.
The six members of the standing committee on law and justice, all from the Upper House, have been given their marching orders by the minister and started proceedings.
The terms of reference state:
Ascertain whether adoption of same s-x couples would further the objectives of the Adoption Act of 2000.
The experience in other Australian and overseas jurisdictions that allow the adoption of children by same s-x couples.
Whether there is scope within the existing programs (local and international) for same s-x couples.
If adoption by same s-x couples will promote the welfare of children, then examining what legislative changes are required.
Written submissions are due by February 13 with public hearings to follow on February 24 and 25.
The committee’s fair-minded chairwoman is Labor’s Christine Robertson, but the other members of the committee almost guarantee that it will be deadlocked on ideological lines.
Two hardline Roman Catholics, Liberal David Clarke and Labor’s Greg Donnelly, can be expected to veto any liberalisation of laws allowing gay couples to adopt.
The remaining committee members, Amanda Fazio (ALP right), John Ajaka (Liberal left) and Sylvia Hale (Greens), will be caught in the crossfire.
Which begs the question: with DOCS facing a massive overhaul and family problems growing with every twist in the economic meltdown, why is the government spending time, effort and money investigating adoption by same s-x couples?
Voters will be able to cast their verdict on March 26, 2011, when Burney attempts to be re-elected in the seat of Canterbury and Labor tries to extend its incumbency from 16 years to 20.
Friday night, a couple of weeks ago I was asked by my friendly (indigenous) neigbours if I would kindly drive their car for them, to take two kids to a relatives house, since everyone else was without a license or intoxicated. Since the father was already drunk and getting drunker (and apparently has a violent reputation, I’m new in town) and the others were expressing a desire to follow suit I agreed. The mother of one of these children refused to even get out of the car to take her little girl inside at the rellies house (I suspect because she would have been berated for being a horrible mother). Upon returning home my neighbours and a cousin and their spouse proceeded to get horribly drunk and had a domestic that lasted for several hours. Two police visits, one knife and one arrest later I am so glad that those kids were not around to see it.
The problem is that they have seen things like that before, and will again, as their parents (barely adults themselves) struggle with the mess that they are in.
From all accounts there are thousands of loving couples around the country who would love to adopt a child, why then is it so horrible that children are removed from abusive households and placed in vetted ones? The number of indigenous children just follows all of the other appalling statistics we know about the indigenous community.
In short, maybe those statistics quoted at the beginning of your article show that DOCS is doing its job?
On another note: If anyone can show me why a same sex couple would be worse parents than my neighbours, I will be all ears.
I doubt he is-but Mitchell sometimes gives a good impression of being a homophobe .
Nor does Justice Wood know all the answers, being the one who presided over the most appaling witch-hunt in NSW history when gays were under a sustained attack in the 90’s over exagerated claims of child abuse. Woods, along with tabloid writers who have purloined the word “pedophile” to mean anything they want ,disgracefully fanned the flames as some ratbag MPs jumped on the bandwagon and accused all and sundry of crimes on very little. The late Justice Yeldham and solicitor John Marsden spring to mind as Wood’s encouraged and allowed this circus to continue .
Wood’s latest “doorstopper” intones on the subject of photographing children whilst tabloids sternly agree and pretend they aren’t the greatest offendors of invasion of privacy-all for the tawrdy claim of “public interest”. Woods gives the impression the human race is some long lost tribe that thinks it’s soul is being stolen when a snap is being taken.
For sure-abused kids desperately need help and NSW alone is a tragic case. This is mirrored country-wide but while we have authorities like the AFP and local police who receive tens of millions of dollars to go -on-line and pretend to be a 14 year old to catch an errant male for thinking of crime, and perpetuate the falsehood that the world is awash with child porn, whilst Interpol says the opposite, real-life abuse, mental, physical, by neglect are ignored whilst sex cases are exagerated and lapped up by the media. This is a sick society and those who moralise, like Federal Minister Conroy and his coterie of NGOs , can be said to be adding to the problem rather than helping through their wilful ignorance.
Burney is just doing her best and the media en masse doesn’t give a hoot about this growing problem unless sex is involved. Sick.
Is it really accurate (or helpful) to invoke the monster known as ‘Stolen Generations’, when talking about children who have been removed from their parents because of abuse? Most of these Indigenous kids are placed with Indigenous family members in often convoluted attempts to keep Aboriginal kids within their family group, even in the face of evidence that this is not the best option.
The rate of child abuse in Aboriginal families is substantially higher than other ethnic groups. And DoCS has, in the past, left Aboriginal kids in abusive situations for far too long because of the Stolen Generations-type issues.
How about we keep away from the obvious, and far too easily relied-upon, race card when we talk about ways to improve services for kids at risk.
It saddens and angers but does not surprise me that governments focus on their own biases and those of their wealthy lobby groups, rather than the facts and realities of the lives of the people they are supposed to represent.
Obsessed with a combination of fascination and homophobia, they make gay and lesbian couples jump through hoops before being allowed to have children while any ‘straight’ couple can pop out a child without anyone blinking an eyelid.
Meanwhile, politicians happily ignore the fact that every day in ‘normal’ heterosexual households with good ol’ Aussie ‘family values’ children are being neglected and abused at rates that should make us all ashamed.
Extremist homophobic lobby groups have money, influence and voting power. Abused children have nothing.