Inquiry into the Commonwealth Contribution to Former Forced Adoption

AUSTRALIAN SENATE

COMMUNITY AFFAIRS REFERENCES COMMITTEE

**  CLOSING DATE EXTENDED UNTIL 21 NOVEMBER 2011  **

Inquiry into the Commonwealth Contribution to Former Forced Adoption Policies and Practices

On 15 November 2010 the Senate referred the following matter to the Community Affairs References Committee for inquiry and report by 30 April 2011:
The Commonwealth contribution to former forced adoption policies and practices, and in particular:
a) the role, if any, of the Commonwealth Government, its policies and practices in contributing to forced adoptions; and
b) the potential role of the Commonwealth in developing a national framework to assist states and territories to address the consequences for the mothers, their families and children who were subject to forced adoption policies.

The Committee invites you to provide a submission addressing the terms of reference above. Submissions should be lodged to the Committee secretariat by COB 28 February 2011. The Committee prefers to receive submissions in the electronic form online or sent by email to community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au. For administrative purposes, all submissions must contain full contact and postal details.

Please be advised that submissions are made public only after a decision by the Committee. Publication of submissions includes loading them onto the internet (with contact details removed) and their being available to other interested parties including the media. Persons making submissions must not release them without the approval of the Committee. Submissions are covered by parliamentary privilege but the unauthorised release of them is not protected. Information relating to Senate Committee inquiries, including notes to assist in the preparation of submissions for a Committee, can be located on the Internet at http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/Committee/wit_sub/index.htm

If you would prefer that your submission remain confidential whereby copies are only given to Committee members please clearly indicate this preference on your submission. Alternatively, if you wish for your information to be made public with your name and identifying information removed please also clearly indicate this preference on your submission.

Enquiries from hearing and speech impaired people should be directed to Parliament House TTY number 02 6277 7799. Adobe also provides tools at http://access.adobe.com/ for the blind and visually impaired to access PDF documents. If you require any special arrangements to enable you to participate in the Committee's inquiry, please contact the Secretariat.

The Committee is due to report by the 30 April 2011. The report will be loaded onto the Internet and may be accessed at www.aph.gov.au/senate_ca. Should you prefer to receive a hard copy of the report, please advise the Secretariat by email: community.affairs.sen@aph.gov.au or phone 02 6277 3515.

Should you require further information please contact the Committee Secretariat on 02 6277 3515.