Here is Part Two of our interview with Collette Glazebrook. Jo Sparrow talks to Collette about managing the lifelong legacy of adoption, weathering its storms and rejoicing in the sunny days with someone who has a great deal of experience with both. Collette Glazebrook was born in 1948 and adopted 3-days later. She has since gone on to discover she had ten siblings, and all but one were placed for adoption. Collette has tirelessly volunteered for Jigsaw Qld on the Management Committee, as a peer...
Nov 16, 2021•45 min
Today we're taking talking about managing the lifelong legacy of adoption, weathering its storms and rejoicing in the sunny days with someone who has a great deal of experience with both. Collette Glazebrook was born in 1948 and adopted 3-days later. She has since gone on to discover she had ten siblings, and all but one were placed for adoption. Collette has tirelessly volunteered for Jigsaw Qld on the Management Committee, as a peer support worker, support group facilitator and in many other r...
Nov 02, 2021•32 min
In this episode, Jane speaks to Nikki Hartmann from Relationships Australia about Integrated Birth Certificates. One of the recommendations of the Senate Inquiry into former forced adoption policies and practices and the Australian Government's response following the 2013 Apology for Forced Adoptions was the nationwide introduction of Integrated Birth Certificates. However, at the time this episode went live only two states had introduced legislation allowing for them to be created - South Austr...
Oct 19, 2021•42 min
Rebecca Autumn Sansom is a New York documentary film maker whose latest offering, 'Reckoning with the Primal Wound' is the first film to explore Nancy Verrier's landmark book, 'The Primal Wound: Understanding the Adopted Child'. First published in 1993, Verrier's work remains the starting point for many adopted people when they begin to explore their experience. The documentaryexplores relinquishment trauma, and the cultural phenomenon surrounding the book. In this episode, Jo and Rebecca unpack...
Oct 05, 2021•54 min
Today's guest is an author and adoptee who was born in Sydney's Crown Street Women's Hospital in 1965 where she remained for a month because of a mild talipes diagnosis. When released from the hospital she was placed in a foster care arrangement with her future adoptive parents for a period of twelve months, until the adoption was finalised. Karen describes herself as a mother, feminist, performer, celebrant and activist and now resides in Melbourne, Australia. In this episode she speaks to Jo S...
Sep 21, 2021•52 min
In the second episode of our interview with Dr Gary Clapton, Jo asks him about his adoption research, with a particular focus on fathers who lost children to adoption. Gary is a father who lost a daughter to adoption in 1970. He is also a social worker who conducts research into adoption at The University of Edinburgh and is a committee member of the Father's Network Scotland and an advisor to 'Birthlink'. This episode discusses adult themes and listener discretion is advised. For more informati...
Sep 07, 2021•51 min
Dr Gary Clapton is a father who lost a daughter to adoption in 1970. He is also a Social Worker who conducts research into adoption at The University of Edinburgh and is a committee member of the Father's Network Scotland and an advisor to 'Birthlink'. In this episode Gary will be sharing his personal story with Jo Sparrow and in part two he'll be discussing his adoption research, with a particular focus on fathers who lost children to adoption. This episode discusses adult themes and listener d...
Aug 24, 2021•38 min
Lynelle Long is a Vietnamese adoptee born in the early 70's who now resides in Sydney, Australia. She founded InterCountry Adoptee Voices (ICAV) in 1988 and has built it into a global network in the intercountry adoptee community. It is now one of the first worldwide platforms for adoptee-led organisations and individuals to collaborate, share and encourage one another - regardless of sending or adoptive country. Lynelle has also built relationships with the Australian Federal Government, which ...
Aug 10, 2021•43 min
Bernadette Davison is a mother who lost a daughter to adoption in Cairns, Queensland in 1985 at the age of eighteen. In this episode she shares her story of that time, how this loss impacted her life in the years afterward, her reunion story and how attending a Federal Forced Adoption apology anniversary event in Western Australia, where she now resides, changed everything. This episode discusses adult themes and listener discretion is advised. For more information go to http://www.jigsawqueensl...
Jul 27, 2021•43 min
In this episode, we talk to Link-Up Queensland Research Manager, Ruth Loli. Link-Up Qld works to enhance the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly removed from their families as children or were affected by forcible removal policies. This includes work with elders, Mums, Dads, grandparents, aunties, uncles, sisters and brothers to reverse the cycle of trans-generational trauma and to restore community health, resilience and wellbeing. This episode discusses adul...
Jul 13, 2021•1 hr 2 min
Jo Sparrow talks to Jo Stuurman about his experience as an adoptee who lived through the Stolen Generation. The Stolen Generations are Indigenous Australians who were forcibly removed from their families, community, and culture owing to government policies and laws throughout the 1900s, until at least 1970. Jo was adopted by a Dutch immigrant family along with two other Noongar children, and they named him Robert Stuurman. He spent his childhood living between Australia, the Netherlands and Papu...
Jun 29, 2021•41 min
In the second episode of our two-part adoption and addiction series, Jane speaks to David Bohl about the relationship between adoption and addiction. David is an adoptee from the USA who is a Clinical Substance Abuse Counsellor, Master Addiction Counsellor and currently works as an independent addiction and recovery consultant. David is a board member and addiction and recovery consultant to the National Association of Adoptees and Parents. In 2018, David published a book titled 'Parallel Univer...
Jun 16, 2021•40 min
Kevin Barhydt is an adoptee living in New York who wrote a memoir about his adoption, childhood sexual abuse, addiction and recovery called 'Dear Stephen Michael's Mother'. By the age of 20, Kevin had succumbed to a suicidal lifestyle of drug dealing and prostitution. At age 45, and after many years of recovery, he began a painful journey to uncover his origins and the hopeful search for his mother. In this first episode of a two-part series on adoption and addiction series, Jo talks to Kevin ab...
Jun 01, 2021•47 min
This year (2021), marks 30 years since the 1991 amendments to Queensland's 1964 Adoption of Children Act. The 1991 amendments entitled adopted people and their parents to receive identifying information about each other - unless the other party had lodged an objection (veto). Parents and adopted people tirelessly lobbied for the amendments for more than a decade and almost saw their efforts fail when the Adoption Privacy Protection Group launched an eleventh hour campaign to maintain closed reco...
May 18, 2021•31 min
Suz Bednarz is an American mother who lost her daughter to adoption in 1986 and began the process of searching for and attempting to reconnect with her then 18-year old daughter in 2005. Suz began a blog to document her journey and that is how she and Jane became friends. In this episode, Suz speaks to Jane about her story and experience. This episode discusses adult themes and listener discretion is advised. For more information go to http://www.jigsawqueensland.com/episode-notes
May 04, 2021•55 min
Today's guest is a well known figure in the Queensland adoption community. At age 17, Vivienne Timmermans was an Australian Champion figure skater with big plans for her future. Around the same time, she discovered she was pregnant and her daughter was placed for adoption in 1980. In this episode, Jo Sparrow speaks to Vivienne about her experience and the book she wrote about it. They also discuss Vivienne's work supporting other mothers who have lost children to adoption through a support group...
Apr 20, 2021•42 min
Jo Sparrow speaks with a mother and an adoptee who wrote a book about their reunion experience. Susannah McFarlane is an adoptee and author, creator and publisher of some of Australia's most successful children's book series and Susannah's mother, Robin Leuba taught English and English literature for many years. 'Heartlines: The Year I Met My Other Mother' the memoir they wrote together is a fast-paced, warm, funny and at times heartbreaking book. The book jacket describes it as a wobbly, roller...
Apr 05, 2021•55 min
Jane speaks to Professor Daryl Higgins about the study titled, "Past Adoption Experiences: National Research Study on the Service Response to Past Adoption Practices" he contributed to and co-authored in his role of Deputy Director (Research) at the Australian Institute of Family Studies. Prof Higgins is a registered psychologist who has researched in the area of child abuse, family violence and family functioning for more than twenty-five years and is currently the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the...
Mar 23, 2021•54 min
In part two of our discussion about discharging an adoption, Jo talks to Jigsaw Qld's Forced Adoption Support Service (FASS)Team Leader, Andrea Lynch more generally about the process and things to consider. The FASS role is not to provide legal advice, but rather to support people to think through their decisions and deal with the emotional responses that may be experienced during the process. This episode discusses adult themes and listener discretion is advised. For more information go to http...
Mar 09, 2021•17 min
Michael Costello was born in Brisbane in 1970, at the height of the closed and forced adoption eras. He was initially placed in an orphanage, and then extended foster care, despite his mother making several attempts to regain custody. Michael went on to be adopted by his foster carers at the age of five where he was physically, sexually and emotional abused. Five years ago, he began the process of discharging his adoption, having his original birth certificate reinstated and his mother legally r...
Feb 24, 2021•46 min
In this episode Jane speaks to Cath Mundy and Jay Turner, a singer-song writing duo who worked with Jigsaw Qld and our client and stakeholder groups to write a song to represent the Forced Adoption experience. They then performed the song with some of the group participants at the 2020 7th Anniversary of the National Apology for Past Forced Adoption Practices in Australia. This episode discusses adult themes and listener discretion is advised. For more information go to http://www.jigsawqueensla...
Feb 09, 2021•52 min
In the first episode of 2021 we talk to adoptee, Psychotherapist, cancer survivor and author, Pam Cordano about her book, "10 Foundations for a Meaningful Life (No Matter What's Happened)". Most of Pam's work over 30 years has been focused on clients who experience serious illness or tragedy, where life was one way and suddenly changed in a moment. Pam's greatest passion is helping people awaken their human capacity to move from despair to living a life of meaning and empowerment which Pam calls...
Jan 26, 2021•44 min
As the 8th anniversary of Queensland's historic apology in parliament for past forced adoption policies and practices nears, Jigsaw Qld's Forced Adoption Support Service (FASS) Team Leader, Andrea Lynch talks to Jo about two Queensland projects aimed at educating the public about the State's dark adoption history and memorialising it in hope that these policies and practices are never forgotten or repeated. They discuss the memorial plaque located in the foyer of the Royal Brisbane and Women's H...
Nov 10, 2020•24 min
In this episode, Jo speaks to Jigsaw Qld's President, Dr Trevor Jordan about the emotions that can arise when doing advocacy work, how far we've come in Queensland and Australia and what is possible in the future. Trevor is a long-term advocate of responsible adoption reform and education. For 20 years he taught Public and Professional Ethics at the Queensland University of Technology. As a person adopted in the closed adoption era, he developed a particular interest in ethics and adoption.This ...
Oct 27, 2020•32 min
In today's episode, Jo speaks to Kerri Saint - an adopted person and advocate who was a founding member of the Association for Adoptees. They discuss Kerri's personal experience of adoption and her efforts to seek legislative change, acknowledgement of past wrongs and redress for anyone affected by adoption. This episode discusses adult themes and listener discretion is advised. For more information about Kerri and the Association for Adoptees go to www.jigsawqueensland.com/episodes-notes. Do yo...
Oct 13, 2020•55 min
In this episode, Jane speaks to Deputy CEO of International Social Service (ISS), Damon Martin. ISS Australia provides social work, legal and mediation services to families and children across international borders. This includes assistance for families experiencing international parental child abduction, facilitating international kinship care and other international child welfare matters. This includes intercountry adoption (and general) family tracing, reunification and mediation. ISS Austral...
Sep 29, 2020•48 min
In part one of our intercountry series, Jo speaks to Barton Williams about his experience of being airlifted from war torn Saigon, Vietnam in 1975 as part of the controversial humanitarian mission, Operation Babylift. Barton was raised in the eastern suburbs of Adelaide, by his new Australian adoptive family and went on to represent Australia in water sports, graduated as a school teacher, created an award-winning fitness program for children, wrote two children's picture books (including one ab...
Sep 15, 2020•30 min
In time for Father's Day, Jane spoke to Gary Coles, who lost his son to adoption in 1967 and who has written extensively about the experience of fathers who were separated from their sons and daughters by adoption. Gary also worked as a manager for VANISH, a Victorian service supporting all those affected by adoption and donor conception. In 2019 Gary travelled to Queensland and ran a Fathers' workshop for Jigsaw Qld. This episode discusses adult themes and listener discretion is advised. Visit ...
Sep 01, 2020•51 min
Jo talks to former Family Court Judge, Professor Nahum Mushin about his experience chairing the Forced Adoption Apology Reference Group; the dramatic day the Federal apology was delivered, why forced adoption doesn't appear to have as much community recognition as other prominent issues and the unfinished business still remaining seven years after the apology was delivered. And as Queensland debates amendments to the child protection bill and Victoria begin their own inquiry into forced adoption...
Aug 18, 2020•47 min
Hilary shares her story of the lifelong impacts of being separated from her daughter by adoption in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1962 and their subsequent reunion. This episode discusses adult themes and listener discretion is advised. Visit www.jigsawqueensland.com for more information about adoption issues and forced adoption.
Aug 04, 2020•1 hr
