According to the Proceeding Seminar held on February
3rd 1967 to proclaim the new Adoption of Children Act 1965, concerns
were been raised by the medical profession regarding what they considered
to be the best form of adoption. These were known as "rapid adoptions".
A rapid adoption was a process whereby the parents of a recently stillborn
child (not having intended to adopt) were offered a substitute baby
to replace their own dead infant so as not to leave the hospital empty
handed. But the decision had to be made quickly as the swap had to be
made prior to leaving the hospital.
As the grieving mother of the stillborn, in having just given birth
could immediately breastfeed the alien child, this was considered to
be a much favoured adoption variation by many in the medical profession.
It relied simply on swapping the dead infant for an available recently
born ex-nuptial one.
Naturally the security of such a placement would have been imperative
and may well have relied on telling the unwed mother her baby had been
stillborn to ensure she didn't try to legally reclaim her child.
Some mothers had been told their baby had died and would be buried
in the `rose garden' in the grounds of the hospital.
Rapid adoptions were very much discussed at the seminar, and could
well be the answer to the recently exposed adoption/stillborn scandal
of 1996 where many unwed mothers across Australia, having been told
their babies had been stillborn, have reunited with their so-called
dead babies in recent years. Their children had been taken for adoption
instead.