Hundreds of Australians adopted from overseas are discovering that their adoptions were built on falsified documents, stolen identities, and the exploitation of vulnerable birth families. Now they're demanding a federal inquiry into inter-country adoption practices that failed to protect the very children the system claimed to help.
The revelations, reported by the ABC, expose systematic failures in Australia's inter-country adoption program spanning decades, involving multiple countries including South Korea, India, Sri Lanka, and others.
Stolen Identities, Fabricated Histories
Adoptees are uncovering disturbing truths: Birth certificates listing mothers who never existed. Medical records claiming babies were abandoned when they were actually taken from families under pressure or deception. Entire personal histories fabricated to facilitate adoptions that generated fees for intermediaries.
One adoptee told the ABC they discovered their adoption papers were completely falsified, with a different woman listed as their birth mother than the person they later tracked down through DNA testing. Another found that their birth family had been told they were dead, while Australian adoption agencies told adoptive parents the child had been willingly surrendered.
These aren't isolated cases. They represent systematic failures of due diligence, oversight, and accountability in Australia's inter-country adoption system.
A System That Failed Everyone
The Australian government approved these adoptions, processed the paperwork, and assured adoptive families that everything was legitimate. Adoption agencies certified that children had been properly surrendered and that birth families understood the permanence of adoption.
In reality, the system operated with minimal verification, relying on documents from countries where corruption in adoption processes was well-documented. Australian officials either didn't know or didn't care that many of these adoptions were compromised from the start.
