The Stolen Children

If you’re adopted but don’t know where you’ve come from or who your biological parents are, it can become an emotional upheaval. Paternity testing is often sought by those who have found out at a later stage in life that they were adopted. Many grown-up children go in search of their roots when they realise they don’t resemble their adopted parents or their adopted parents tell them the story of how they came to be adopted. But some cases are more compelling – especially those that feature adopted children from different cultures altogether.

Paternity Testing – The Stolen Generation

If somebody has different racial features to their adopted parents it can be a constant physical reminder of their difference. One woman from Wales recently found out that she was one of the Aboriginal children known as ‘the stolen generation’. She was separated from her white father and Aboriginal mother by the Australian government. Paternity testing wasn’t necessary as the truth finally came out after researching her roots. Now the Welsh woman is planning on emigrating with her family to Australia and wants compensation from the Australian government.

The Lost Children

The woman found out that she was separated from her biological parents at a hospital in Brisbane. Her Aborigine mother was told her baby was dead, although she had in fact been taken away by the government. For many aborigines, paternity DNA testing has helped them reunite with the families they were stolen from. The Australian government took the babies because they felt that the Aborigine people were unfit to bring up their own children. This test has helped many lost children find their fathers who could have been lost forever.

Paternity Testing – Reuniting with Family and Culture

The Welsh woman, who now has three of her own children, plans to move to Brisbane to reunite with her Aborigine brothers and sisters. “It is the ending we are all looking for,” the woman told the press. Paternity DNA testing has helped in some of the cases featuring indigenous children who were forcibly removed from their parents. It’s thought that for 60 years – up until 1970 – that up to 30% of indigenous children were taken from their families in an attempt to give them a ‘better life’.

Although paternity testing can help many children confirm who their biological fathers are, the story highlights that it’s more than just the children who are victims. The biological parents and the adopted parents suffer too. The adopted parents of the Welsh woman were told that her biological parents had abandoned the baby at hospital.