Do you think that mothers and adoptees of the BSE will ever receive a formal apology from the government?

Question

I read a BSE first mom's blog quite regularly and she often states that one of the things that she would like to see before she dies is recognition from the government (U.S.) that what happened was wrong and to receive a formal apology.

Do you think that will ever happen?

Do you think it should?

Recently in Canada, our government publically apologized to the First Nations' people for the government sanctioned taking of their children and placing into residential homes under the premise of a better life as it would make them more "white". The children suffered horrendous abuse at those schools. But now they have received and accepted an apology. I know it's not quite the same thing, however, many Canadians didn't think an apology would ever be forthcoming for this black smear, but it did.

I have been thinking a lot about this after reading "The Girst That Went Away". It was heart wrenching.

Thoughts?

Answer 1

I would love to see it, I doubt I ever will.

And pffft about the residential school apology, did you see how insincere Harper appeared, it wasn't genuine, it was forced and unfeeling, nothing more than a way to hopefully close the case and get it out of the media. Nobody wants to hear about the scars adoption leaves, our world is so in love with the idea of all these people saving all these unwanted babies. I just don't see it happening.

There was a case here, in Edmonton, a few months ago where an adult adoptee laid a lawsuit against her amom, the hospital where she was born and the Dr's, nurses and social workers involved. Her first mom was told she died. The "death" was used to facilitate and cover up the adoption. I can' even count how many people I know thought she had no right to sue, no right to seek anything from the people who changed her life so drastically. How do you convince people how rampant such practises were when they refuse to believe the words of those who lived it?

Adoption is seen as such a "loving" choice and until we can dispel that myth nobody is going to listen to the pain and suffering adoption has caused. Even when the movie Butterbox Babies came out people were unwilling to accept that similar situations had happened across Canada, it was seen as an isolated incident.

I would love for ANY government to stand up and accept that they didn't do their jobs properly when it comes to adoption... we can't even get them to do the job right now! How do you get them to admit they were wrong when they continue the same practises and behaviours to this very day?

Nope, I just don't see it ever happening.

Answer 2

Hi Kazi,

I would be wonderful if our government apologized to BSE mothers and adoptees and offered financial retribution.  Sadly, the American Government hasn't apologized to our Native American citizens or African Americans who were victims of slavery.  So as far as North America, i don't see ANY apologies being issued anytime soon:(

All of the people mentioned above ^^^ deserve a h**l of a lot more than a simple apology but geez it would be a start!

Answer 3

Thanks for asking this question.  It is good to see that this issue is being raised.  I am a Senior Mother of the BABY SCOOP ERA (BSE) and my blog is linked to the blog to which you are referring.  I was a "girl" and now I am a Grandmother. There were somewhere between 1.5 and 6 million women who lost their babies during that time, and it was little else than an experiment in social eugenics.

The internet was our savior. We "spoke" of our experience, many for the first time on the internet and were able to be as anonymous as we chose to be.  Over time, when we realized how many of us there were, and that we were certainly not alone, we gained strength and courage and are gradually coming out.  We are getting old now and we no longer care if people think we are the "nice girls" we were.  

Our civil and human rights were violated as were our children's rights.  We made neither an “adoption plan” nor "chose adoption".  We find that, rather than being the "loving option" as it is being touted today, when we reunited we were met by angry adults who felt abandoned by their mothers...us, the women who had been so cruelly used.  

We have had enough, and we are no longer the frightened, vulnerable young women who were abandoned by everyone who was to defend and protect us;  not just the fathers of our babies, but our own parents, our  clergy, our physicians, extended families, friends, and teachers, the whole of society, it seemed.  However, there were laws in place that were the backbone of the BSE, the discriminatory Civil Rights laws that were later overturned as unconstitutional.  The Government was involved in the losses of millions of babies to adoption through these odious and illegal laws.

We are investigating our options, weighing the possibilities, but in the meantime, we are also naming names.  The ones who were responsible for our losses, the Shamers, the ones who told us to go home and shut up about our experiences, the ones who orchestrated and abandoned us and all the others who benefitted from our losses will have their names and the role they played exposed for all to see.

One way or the other, there will be justice for the Senior Mothers of the BSE.

Sandy Young

Senior Mother, 1967

Answer 4

No because it was not primarly the government. It was the culture of the time. Many kids were snatched by nuns of all people

They should get an apology from the church if anything

Answer 5

I am a BSE baby. My mother is the CLASSIC 'girl who went away'.  A good girl who got pregnant from her steady beau, and he refused to marry her.  Her mother gave her the choice of adoption OR being totally cut off from her entire family.  There was no Welfare in the early 60s.

I don't think the government had anything to do with my adoption.

It was the church(s), society, the new career of 'social workers' creating social engineering (taking babies from ‘bad’ girls giving them to more deserving ‘good’ girls and their husbands), no readily accessible birth control, no LBJ's Great Society of social programs (so there really was no choice/no support), a generation of ‘fathers’ PAST the Greatest Generation where men were no longer held to the previous generation's standard of living up to your responsibility, i.e. marrying the girl you knocked up.

Answer 6

They don't think they did anything wrong, so they would have no need to apologize.

Answer 7

Dear Kazi,

It would be a start. Many states and countries have made formal apologies for forced sterilization and eugenics programs (talk about inhuman treatment!) so I won't say it will NEVER happen, however I do agree with Lille (love the new look, BTW!) that it is something that won't come until people open their eyes and see the adoption industry for what it really is (in many cases) and has done. Too many people are unaware that the BSE ever happened. I had to explain it to my own mother who remembers some of the girls from her school "being sent to care for a sick Aunt." (Yes, she was outraged that this had happened and was horrified she hadn't figured it out.)

ETA: The apology should include access to records and assisted reunions, IMO.

ETA2: (((((((((SANDY)))))))))) I am so sorry. Thank you for speaking out.

Answer 8

I think the government should give them money as well.

Answer 9

If you think that is gut wrenching wait until you read about the atrocities of adoption in China and Guatemala and how good wholesome US/Canadian families drove them up.

Wink. Wink.

I really was touched by your "how can they enjoy parenthood and be able to sleep at night post".

Answer 10

It will never happen in this country.  They are too in love with adoption and probably never will see that anything wrong was even done.

Sad, but true.