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A ‘forgotten’ whakapapa : Annabel Ahuriri-Driscoll, Denise Blake, Helen Potter, Kim McBreen and Ani Mikaere historical narratives of Māori and closed adoption

By: Ahuriri-Driscoll, Annabel.
Contributor(s): Blake, Denise | Potter, Helen | McBreen, Kim | Mikaere, Ani.
Material type: materialTypeLabelArticleSeries: Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online.Publisher: Taylor & Francis, 2022Subject(s): ADOPTION | Adoption Act 1955 | COLONISATION | HISTORY | KŌRERO NEHE | MĀORI | RACISM | RANGAHAU MĀORI | TAIPŪWHENUATANGA | TE AO MĀORI | TUHINGA WHAKAPAE | WHAKAHĀWEA IWI | WHAKAPAPA | WHĀNGAI | NEW ZEALANDOnline resources: DOI: 10.1080/1177083X.2022.2105725 (Open access) In: Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online, 2022, First published online, 20 July 2022Summary: The era of closed stranger adoption is a significant part of Aotearoa New Zealand’s social and colonial history; some 80,000 children were legally adopted between the years 1955–1985. Māori children constituted a considerable proportion of these legal adoptions, although little attention has been given to their experiences. The relative silence surrounding this phenomenon exists alongside narratives of colonisation and a professed abhorrence by Māori to closed adoption practice, producing a narrative discrepancy. This article aims to understand and account for some of the discrepancies in public narratives by providing an accurate historical account of engagement with the 1955 Adoption Act and its 1962 amendments from a Māori perspective, and unpacking the legal, political, social and cultural aspects from a historical experience. The complexities and nuances of settler colonialism are highlighted, as well as the effects for Māori adoptees of not being publicly and historically narrated – forgotten subjects. (Authors' abstract). Record #7781
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Kōtuitui: New Zealand Journal of Social Sciences Online, 2022, First published online, 20 July 2022

The era of closed stranger adoption is a significant part of Aotearoa New Zealand’s social and colonial history; some 80,000 children were legally adopted between the years 1955–1985. Māori children constituted a considerable proportion of these legal adoptions, although little attention has been given to their experiences. The relative silence surrounding this phenomenon exists alongside narratives of colonisation and a professed abhorrence by Māori to closed adoption practice, producing a narrative discrepancy. This article aims to understand and account for some of the discrepancies in public narratives by providing an accurate historical account of engagement with the 1955 Adoption Act and its 1962 amendments from a Māori perspective, and unpacking the legal, political, social and cultural aspects from a historical experience. The complexities and nuances of settler colonialism are highlighted, as well as the effects for Māori adoptees of not being publicly and historically narrated – forgotten subjects. (Authors' abstract). Record #7781