The idea that adoption and 'forced' adoption was what 'we just did back then'; is a lazy throw away comment I have heard far too many times. It is a false claim and one of the many malignant narrative's society still used to excuse and normalise the notion that removing newborns from their mothers at birth was/is THE best way to manage 'illegitimate' children.

Children have been born outside the religious convention of marriage since the dawn of humanity. You will no doubt have your own family story of at least one fast track wedding, children who were raised by extended family and a sister who was in fact the mother to their youngest 'sibling'.

Prior to the Forced Adoption Era (FAE) of the 1940's - 1980's families welcomed and managed the arrival of their newest family member. My own family has experienced this across 6 generations. In a not so fun fact, I am the only child in that long lineage of single mothers, who was to be permanently seperated from my family via adoption. It didn't help that I was born at the peak of Australia's FAE, in 1972 - the singularly most dangerous time in history for a child to be born to an unmarried mother. (Almost 10,000 Australian newborns were forcibly removed the year I was born).

The move to institutionalise unwed mothers and their newborns inside prison like places, such as Ngala, Hillcrest, St Anne's, St Gerard's and Home of the Good Shepard is an Australian history we are also just beginning to unravel. 

My ask is this, the next time you find yourself in a conversation discussing the FAE, please be mindful to not repeat the false claim, 'that's just what they did back then', and I urge you to correct this misinformation.