She was awoken in the middle of the night. Two police officers handcuffed her and drove her to an airport. Against her will she was dragged onto a plane, flying from Melbourne to Sydney.
The next morning, she was driven to her new home, Booth House and taken for an appointment at Bethesda House. ‘A home for bad girls,’ read the plaque on the entryway. It was 1959 and she was six months pregnant.
Three months later, on October 26, 1959, Valerie gave birth to her first and only daughter, Deborah.
She was never allowed to hold her.
This is the story of Valerie Peck, my grandmother.
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Sometimes adoption is necessary, but the violence and social pressures associated with former and in some cases currently perpetrated on the unborn child and the first parents are felt for generations to come. We fail to recognize that a bond is formed between the mother and the infant in the womb. We fail to recognize that the broken bond creates a fear in the newborn which nags the infant throughout his life. The adoptee can never identify the elusive feelings of being unsettled. It is never satisfied. The unknown is can only be put to rest by knowing his story, by having information about his parents, and by knowing how he fits into that story.
How sad that this happened so many times yet here is one story. So many have come in to say " that didn't happen" . I can attest it still happened in the late 70's and still happens to this day.