This Is Where You Have To Go: A heartbreaking and powerful story of a mother's quest for connection with her lost son

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150,000 adoptions took place between 1950 and 1975. It is estimated that one in 15 was forced. Lynda Holden tells her own heartbreaking story and exposes this shameful chapter in Australian history. In 1970, Lynda was eighteen, unmarried and pregnant when she was forced to give her baby up for adoption. Sent by a doctor to a Catholic girls' home for unmarried mothers, she was told she'd have no hope of keeping her baby because she was Aboriginal. Lynda went on to get married and have children but she never forgot about her beautiful baby boy and after twenty-six years, she made contact with her son. But the much wished for reunion didn't go well not only was her son angry about being given up for adoption, he was also unaware of his Aboriginal heritage. She looked into finding the paperwork from the adoption as proof of her attempts to keep her son, but what she found was a web of lies: lies about her family, the baby's father, her 'consent' to adopt and her Aboriginal heritage, and her signature had been forged. This began a quest for justice to expose the wrongs of the past and to give a voice to women who went through similar ordeals. Lynda sued the Catholic church and won. In this incredibly powerful memoir, she sheds light on the long-term consequences of the practice of forced adoption on mothers, children and their families.

Author Bio

Lynda Holden is a proud Dhungatti woman. She has worked in mental health, nursing, midwifery, human rights, law and social justice, and actively advocates for Aboriginal peoples in these disciplines. She holds qualifications in nursing and midwifery and is also a solicitor. Jo Tuscano is the co-author of Back on the Block, the story of Bill Simon, a Biripi man, member of the Stolen Generations and an inmate of the notorious Kinchella Boys Home.