Paul:

Paul Angus was taken away from his mother, put into a new family, where he never fitted in, and finally after 17 years he was reunited with his mother. 

Paul was born in May 1964, he lived with his mother in an inner suburb in Melbourne. His mother took him to the Royal Children’s Hospital by the age of five and a half month, because both of them became ill. Under the recovery the Social welfare department of the Hospital said to his mother that she should put him into St Gabriel’s Babies’ Home in Balwyn. They said that it only should be until both of them were well again.
They took Paul away, not for a couple weeks, but for 18 years.

This is not a picture of Paul, but we think it looked like a Paul.

They sent him into adoption, with the reason that his mother was unable to take good care of him. They said she couldn’t locate his mother, so he needed to be in the Blackburn South Cottage for adoption chances.
In October 1967 he was placed with a family, but it only lasted 7 month, because the family rejected him because of his unresponsive behaviour. He was again put into another orphanage. Here he lived in the next to years. Every fortnight all the children lined up, and there came visitors, to look after child to adopt. Paul had that complexion that he was very dark, so not many would to have him as a foster kid.

In January 1970 he was placed in his last family, a mother, a father and four sons.
Paul knew he was different from the others, but his family said it was wrong, and lied to him about who he was. He was treated badly. His “brothers” bullied him, and called him names as “Abo”, and his “father” beat him, until he was pleading him to stop. At home he was punished for the slightest things and in the school he was bullied or punished of pupils and teachers. He was at the family until he was 17, and in may 1982 he got discharged from the State wardship, where he has been known as No 54321, because they only were interested in his file.
They told him that he was of aboriginal descent, and his whole family was alive. They gave him a bunch of paper, at all 368 pages, and lot of letter, photos and birthday cards. They were from his mother, who never stopped looking for him. She had visited the orphanages, sent letters to him the whole life through, sent tons of letters to the government, to get an explanation, and to get her son back, who the stole from her.

The welfare office gave him his mother’s current address, in the case he actually wanted to meet his aboriginal mother. He finally met his mother after 18 long years, she worked in a hostel for aboriginals children.

On the last page of his file papers, these words stood:

Paul is a very intelligent, likeable boy, who has made remarkable progress, given the unfortunate treatment of his Mother by the department during his childhood.


http://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/stories-report