George Palmer

And so some of them oppose the adoption.

What usually happens is social workers take the child, the child is put into foster care.

And at a certain stage, often the foster parents apply for the adoption.

At that stage, the mother opposes.

The child has been living with the foster parents perhaps for years, for five, six years.

A close bond is formed with the foster parents.

The mother has seen the child perhaps occasionally before.

But the mother cannot bring herself to consent to surrendering her child, and so she opposes.

Now, they are some really heart-rending cases to decide.

Well, it's very difficult, often, emotionally.

But you have to apply the law.

And the law says that of paramount interest, the paramount importance is the welfare of the child.

while the natural mother might be grieving to the point of destruction,

You can't give her feelings priority, nor the feelings of the foster parents who have been attached to the child.

It's the child's best interest.

So you have evidence from social workers, from psychologists, from any person that you feel can help you to make the right decision in the interest of the child.

Oh, yes, yes, absolutely.

Absolutely.

One case that has never left me is a case of a young girl who came to Australia as a refugee.

She, as a child, had seen her family killed in front of her.