Shaken by their pasts, inter-country adoptees demand federal government broaden inquiry scope

Adoptee Kimbra Butterworth was well into adulthood when she confirmed she was a victim of an infamous Taiwanese baby smuggler.

If it weren't for dogged family and media investigations plus a bit of luck, she may have never found out.

"I may never find my [biological] family because of all these circumstances that someone else did that was completely out of my control," she said.

Adoption papers show Ms Kimbra was born in Taiwan in 1980, the supposed fifth child of a family with the surname Chen.

But the family names were forged, leaving her in the dark about her biological parents' true identities.

"There was a couple of stories where [babies] were stolen out of prams in the marketplace," she said.

"What happens if I was one of the stolen children?"

The 45-year-old is one of many inter-country adoptees the ABC has spoken with who arrived in Australia from the 1970s onwards as international adoption grew in popularity.

Decades later, those adoption programs are coming under greater scrutiny.

The federal government this week launched an inquiry into Australia's role in the adoption of thousands of children from South Korea, after damning investigations there found a history of corruption, fraud and child trafficking.

Some adoptees also speak of the horrid treatment they endured at the hands of their adoptive parents — including physical, sexual and emotional abuse — and criticise Australian officials for failing to properly vet prospective parents and check up on children.

These issues are not limited to South Korea, prompting Australians adopted from other countries to call on the federal government to expand its inquiry. It's a call that has so far gone unanswered.

"To be honest, it does hurt because you do want to be acknowledged," Ms Butterworth said.

Among the pile of fraudulent documents and photos she has of her early life is an image of Ms Butterworth being held by Julie Chu — an infamous smuggler jailed for running an illegal baby trafficking syndicate in the early 1980s.

But it took Ms Butterworth's family many years to confirm, through their investigations and media reports, the adoption paperwork was illegitimate.

Throughout this time, the Adelaide family says they were never contacted by state or government officials.

"My mum, she just broke down and started sobbing," she recalled of the pair asking questions of the South Australian authorities.

"The government never contacted [my adoptive family], never checked up on them, never gave them information, never did an investigation to affirm or deny."

Horror stories flourished as children and families paired

For many, Australia's adoption program in past decades was geared towards ensuring Australian families could adopt a child rather than prioritising the welfare of the adoptee.

Some, like Ms Butterworth, have had loving, supportive families that were devastated to learn their adoption was based on a lie.

But other adoptees have been placed into homes where their childhoods were rife with abuse.

Welfare checks from Australian authorities were lacklustre or absent, with some adoption papers the ABC has viewed concluding "no further supervision will be required" after just an initial assessment.

The assumption that a child from a poor country would be better off in a wealthy nation like Australia led to a lack of checks and balances, many adoptees argue.

Lynelle Long is one of them.

She was taken from Vietnam in 1973 after her adoptive parents hired a government-connected lawyer there to do "whatever necessary" to find a child.

But the paperwork on both the Vietnamese and Australian ends was never completed.

It wasn't until she applied for a driver's licence at 16 that she uncovered her adoption had never been processed, meaning she was still technically under the care of the Australian immigration minister.

She was sexually abused by her Australian father and the adoption was recently annulled.

"I did hold him to account through the courts," Ms Long explained.

"He was found guilty and he's actually on the sex offender registry."

The federal government apologised to Ms Long in 2024 after she gave evidence to the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

"I am sorry that there was not a robust system in place when you were adopted," then-immigration minister Andrew Giles wrote.

"I am sorry the department failed you."

Ms Long has spent decades lobbying the government to investigate adoption practices across the region but describes the government's response as "lacklustre".

"These adoptees, they struggle with all sorts of abuse, whether that be emotional abuse, whether that be sexual abuse, physical abuse, violence, neglect," she said.

"I hear it on a daily basis and it breaks my heart every time."

Inquiry to probe infamous South Korean program

A newly launched investigation, run by the Department of Social Services, is investigating Australia's role in adoptions from South Korea from 1964 to 1999.

Some 3,600 South Korean children were sent to Australia as part of an infamous program that earned the Asian nation the reputation as the world's greatest baby exporter.

Extensive media investigations and a landmark report from South Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission found the program was rife with fraud and corruption, including babies being stolen.

Australia's federal Minister for Social Services, Tanya Plibersek, acknowledged past adoption practices were "extremely damaging" but would not commit to further investigations, stating the Korean investigation was a first step.

"We know that there were some shocking practices in the past within Australia and between countries."

While the Australian government was ultimately responsible for bringing adoptee children into the country, the assessment of adoptive family eligibility and suitability was delegated to the state governments.

Critics of the program say parents at the time were advised to treat their adoptee children as if they were Australian, without any acknowledgement of their cultural identities.

Stories of isolation and racism are common at a time when Australia was far more monocultural.

Ms Plibersek said the adoption system today is more robust than previous decades.

"Our attitudes and processes have completely changed over the decades," she said.

"We understand much better now that adoption can be very difficult for the children who are adopted and certainly very difficult in cases where children were stolen, abducted, sold, trafficked."

Fears adoptees may die without knowing their stories

The lack of commitment and timeline for widening the investigations has frustrated other inter-country adoptees, who feel their voices are being ignored.

Gabbie Beckley was adopted from Sri Lanka in 1981, when it was rife with poverty and civil war.

With the help of her adoptive parents, she was able to find her biological parents at the age of 19. But she eventually learned a heartbreaking revelation.

"[My birth mother] was promised money and saris and things by the brokers and by the people in Sri Lanka organising the adoption," she said.

"But she didn't receive any of those things.

"Having those promises taken away and being left with nothing — in the same destitute position she was when we were born — made her life still really hard."

She knows many other Sri Lankan adoptees that will never be so fortunate to find their birth parents due to fabricated paperwork and other dodgy practices.

In 2008, the Sri Lankan health minister admitted to the existence of illegal baby farms.

Ms Beckley understands the heartbreaking position her mum was in. 

She says the adoption was for love. But she's angry at the system that enabled exploitation and fabrication.

"There was a lot of people that got rich by selling children," Ms Beckley said.

She said a commitment was needed from the federal government to expand the scope of its inquiry.

Kimbra Butterworth is planning a journey to Taiwan as she tries to uncover her past.

But she has had to accept she may die never knowing the truth.

"There's a number of us who have over multiple decades — over 20, 30 years — have been fighting for some of our rights to be recognised," she said.

"Just to be seen, for the issues to be seen."

For inter-country adoptees affected by unique or difficult adoption practices, specialist support is available through the Intercountry Adoptee and Family Support Service (ICAFSS). If this story has raised any issues for you, call Lifeline on 13 11 14.