VANISH

VANISH Specialist information, advice, family tracing and support services for adults affected by adoption and family separation. Want to get in touch?

Please call 1300 826 474 or visit https://vanish.org.au/contact/ VANISH is a not-for-profit organisation for adults affected by adoption — including adopted people, mothers and fathers separated from a child by adoption, and other family members. VANISH also assists Forgotten Australians (Care Leavers) and donor conceived people. We provide free confidential services including information, advice,

assistance with applying for records, family tracing, support with outreach and reunion, counselling, support groups and creative workshops. We also offer training for professionals about the impacts of past and forced adoption practices and ways to provide appropriate support. Established in 1989 by and for people affected by adoption, VANISH is widely respected as a lived experience-led organisation specialising in search and support. Our services are provided by a dedicated team of professionals, assisted by our wonderful volunteers, supporters and members. VANISH receives funding for our core services from the Victorian Government and work closely with their Adoption Services team.

On Saturday night, VANISH's Communications & Advocacy Coordinator and founder of Korean Adoptees in Australia Network - ...
17/08/2026

On Saturday night, VANISH's Communications & Advocacy Coordinator and founder of Korean Adoptees in Australia Network - KAIAN Hana Crisp, and former VANISH Chair, author and researcher Dr Penny Zagarelou-Mackieson brought both lived experience and professional perspectives from intercountry adoption and forced adoption to a panel discussion following a performance of Cut Chilli at Northcote Town Hall Arts Centre.

Alongside Sri Lankan adoptee Jai Wambeek and Sri Lankan Tamil Australian playwright Chenturan Aran, and moderated by Lynelle Long, a Vietnamese adoptee and founder of InterCountry Adoptee Voices (ICAV), the panel discussed the complexities of intercountry adoption explored in the play—love and harm, presence and absence, belonging and racial othering, and the immeasurable losses of birth country, culture, and kin.

Developed in close consultation with the intercountry adoptee community, Cut Chilli follows the story of Jamie, an adoptee who begins to question the story he was raised with after learning more about the history of adoption fraud in Sri Lanka and realising he’s never seen his adoption file. This performance run is now sold out but you can buy the published play here: https://www.currency.com.au/books/cut-chilli

A big thank you and congratulations to Lynelle, ICAV, and Darebin Arts for hosting this community night, complete with a delicious Sri Lankan buffet catered by Hop and Spice Ascot Vale , with funding from ICAFSS (InterCountry Adoptee and Family Support Services).

06/08/2026

Adoption doesn't end in childhood, and neither does the process of making sense of who you are and where you belong.

In this final excerpt from our interview series, Dr Jenny Conrick from The University of Melbourne shares something that many adoptees already know firsthand – that the significance of biological family and origins can resurface at any point across the lifespan.

For adoptees, this might look like decades passing without thinking much about your adoption, and then finding yourself in your 50s with a sudden desire to understand more about who you are and where you came from. Your whole story.

If that's where you are now, you're not alone. Adoption and family separation is a lifelong experience, and support is available at any stage.

We're grateful to Jenny for sharing her insights throughout this series. Read the full interview on our website: vanish.org.au/understanding-adoptions-lifelong-impact-and-what-helps-an-interview-with-dr-jenny-conrick/

👉🏼 To connect with specialist post-adoption support, call us on (03) 9328 8611 (Mon–Fri, 9am to 5pm) or email [email protected]

Last Saturday we held an Adoptee Wellbeing Day in Albury-Wodonga, bringing our peer support community together for a day...
29/07/2026

Last Saturday we held an Adoptee Wellbeing Day in Albury-Wodonga, bringing our peer support community together for a day of connection and creative therapies. 💛

One participant, Megan, travelled all the way from Ballarat to attend. She was moved by her experience that she wrote about it and sent it to us to share. Swipe through to read Megan’s reflections on the day and what these programs mean to her.

Right now, funding pressures mean our regional peer support groups have been reduced. If you’re able to support these programs, you can donate here: https://www.givenow.com.au/vanishgroups

And if you’re interested in joining our peer support groups or programs, contact us on (03) 9328 8611 or [email protected] to learn more. ☺️

22/07/2026

What has healing looked like for you? 💚

For many adoptees, becoming aware of the complex impacts of adoption and separation trauma sets us on a lifelong journey of healing.

Healing looks different for everyone and often involves a combination of different approaches at different times. In this interview excerpt, adoption therapist and researcher Dr Jenny Conrick from the University of Melbourne talks about becoming aware of patterns in our nervous system reactions, often shaped by early separation trauma, and mourning the losses of identity, belonging, culture, and kin – even after reunion.

Healing might also include:

🌱 becoming more aware of negative self-talk
🌱 learning how to care and advocate for yourself
🌱 honouring your truth and maintain boundaries in relationships
🌱 giving yourself permission to tell the whole story about your experience – the gains and the losses, the good outcomes and the bad
🌱 finding community with other adoptees

For adoptees, what has your own healing journey looked like?

If you’re interested in finding an adoption-competent, trauma-informed therapist like Jenny, VANISH can connect you with someone from our register of community-recommended practitioners. Contact us on (03) 9328 8611 (Mon–Fri, 9am to 5pm) or email [email protected] to get started.

You can also read the full interview with Jenny on our website: vanish.org.au/understanding-adoptions-lifelong-impact-and-what-helps-an-interview-with-dr-jenny-conrick/

There’s still spots available for our Wodonga-Albury Adoptee Wellbeing Day this Saturday!📅 Sat 25 July 2026🕒 10am to 4.3...
20/07/2026

There’s still spots available for our Wodonga-Albury Adoptee Wellbeing Day this Saturday!

📅 Sat 25 July 2026
🕒 10am to 4.30pm
📍 South Albury venue (confirmed after registration)

Join us to:

✨ Reconnect with yourself through art therapy, creative writing and guided ritual
✨ Gain practical tools for wellbeing
✨ Spend a relax, nurturing day in community with other local adoptees

Questions? Contact us on (03) 9328 8611 or [email protected] or register now at www.bit.ly/adopteeday. We hope to see you there! 😊

Know someone adopted from Ireland who may have searched for family? Please share this anonymous survey 👉🏼Ireland's Birth...
17/07/2026

Know someone adopted from Ireland who may have searched for family? Please share this anonymous survey 👉🏼

Ireland's Birth Information and Tracing Services is being independently reviewed to understand what’s working and what could be improved. Lived experience from abroad is just as important to this review as someone based in Ireland today.

This fully anonymous survey takes 10-30 minutes and you can skip any question you don't want to answer. Take the survey here: https://survey.alchemer.eu/s3/91131498/Participant-Survey

To thank you for your time, you can optionally enter a draw for one of three €150 gift vouchers.

Closes: Friday 24 July 2026

“The shame is not yours. The shame was never yours. The shame is ours.” On 2 July 2026, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Star...
15/07/2026

“The shame is not yours. The shame was never yours. The shame is ours.”

On 2 July 2026, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer formally apologised for the British State's role in historic forced adoptions in England and Wales, following years of campaigning by mothers and adult adoptees in the UK.

Alongside the apology, he announced various support initiatives for mothers and adult adoptees, to be guided by lived experience, including:

✅ online peer-led support groups,
✅ better access to adoption records,
✅ funded intermediary services with particular focus on pre-1976 cases,
✅ support for clinicians to better understand the impact of forced adoption,
✅ and a testimonials project to capture lived experience stories

For people impacted by forced adoption, how do these words land for you? Read the full statement here: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/prime-ministers-statement-in-the-house-on-historic-forced-adoption-2-july-2026

As we reflect on the 2025-26 financial year, we'd like to thank every single person who donated, shared our fundraising ...
09/07/2026

As we reflect on the 2025-26 financial year, we'd like to thank every single person who donated, shared our fundraising campaigns, liked our posts, or wrote to their MPs about the importance of specialist post-adoption services. Your support helps keeps our services running and inspires us as a team, especially during uncertain times. We're so grateful for this community! 💛

📣 UK Apology Update 🎙️UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to make a statement in the House of Commons today apolo...
02/07/2026

📣 UK Apology Update 🎙️

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to make a statement in the House of Commons today apologising for the role of the British state in historical forced adoptions, where an estimated 185,000 babies were taken from their mothers from the 1950s to 70s.

The statement is expected to occur between 11am -12.30pm UK time (which is 8pm – 9.30pm here in Victoria) but may be subject to change. You can watch the live stream here: https://parliamentlive.tv/Commons

Adoption remains widely misunderstood, and too many people continue to carry its impacts of complex trauma and grief in ...
29/06/2026

Adoption remains widely misunderstood, and too many people continue to carry its impacts of complex trauma and grief in silence.

Our support groups provide safe spaces where people can talk openly about adoption – often for the first time in their lives.

Victorian Government funding for our support services ends on 30 June, but with your help, we can keep the doors open to understanding, healing, and connection.

There's still time to make a difference this EOFY. Click here to give any amount you can: https://www.givenow.com.au/vanishgroups

Address

North Melbourne, VIC

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 5pm
Tuesday 9am - 5pm
Wednesday 9am - 5pm
Thursday 9am - 5pm
Friday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

+61393288611

Website

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