VANISH

Call Directions Website

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.

Emily McKie spent the past year filling in for Lucy as our Operations Coordinator, answering calls and sitting with serv...
14/10/2026

Emily McKie spent the past year filling in for Lucy as our Operations Coordinator, answering calls and sitting with service users’ stories while drawing on her own lived experience as an adoptee.

In a new piece on our website, she writes about coming out of the fog, the conversations that changed her relationship with her mother, and what she’s learned from working at VANISH. Swipe for a few of her reflections, then read the full article here: https://vanish.org.au/the-power-of-knowing-your-whole-story-a-year-at-vanish/

If this raises questions or feelings you'd like support with, VANISH can help you explore what services and resources may be available. You can reach us on (03) 9328 8611 or [email protected]

📣 Final reminder: Please confirm your VANISH membership by 6 October If you're a VANISH member, you should have received...
29/09/2026

📣 Final reminder: Please confirm your VANISH membership by 6 October

If you're a VANISH member, you should have received an email from us asking you to confirm your membership. It's the first time we've done this and we plan to repeat it each year so our records stay accurate.

The survey takes 5-10 minutes. You can confirm your contact details, tell us how you'd like to hear from us, and let us know if you’d like to get more involved. Your answers help us understand who our community is and make a stronger case for the services and reform that matter to you.

A quick note on how our membership works, because we know it can be confusing. It's free, and you don't need to be a member to use VANISH services. Membership is for people who want a say in the organisation, including voting at general meetings, and who'd like to receive regular updates.

If you no longer wish to be a member, you can also let us know via the survey, and you're always welcome to rejoin later.

👉🏼 Complete the survey: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/r/q5yki6U5jm

👋🏼 Keen to become a member? Join here: https://vanish.org.au/get-involved/become-a-member/

For many people, experiences of loss, rejection or identity disruption occur later in life. For adoptees, these experien...
22/09/2026

For many people, experiences of loss, rejection or identity disruption occur later in life. For adoptees, these experiences are woven into their life-story from the get-go.

Developed by Deborah Silverstein and Sharon Kaplan in the 1980’s, the Seven Core Issues of Adoption is a conceptual framework that describes seven common emotional experiences triggered by adoption: loss, rejection, shame/guilt, grief, identity, intimacy, and mastery and control.

Join our next free webinar with post-adoption support workers and adoptees SallyRose and Gail to explore the Seven Core Issues and how they show up for adult adoptees.

🗓 Date: Tuesday 6 October 2026
⏰ Time: 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM (AEDT)
💻 Format: Online via Zoom
👥 For: Adoptees in Victoria and the people close to them who want to better understand their loved one's experience.

👉🏼 For more information and to register, go to: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-seven-core-issues-of-adoption-with-sallyrose-and-gail-tickets-2000914655598?aff=oddtdtcreator

Adoption and family separation have significant and lasting mental health impacts. According to research by the Universi...
17/09/2026

Adoption and family separation have significant and lasting mental health impacts.

According to research by the University of Melbourne with the VANISH community, 58% of adoptees and 60% of mothers separated from children through adoption experience high or very high levels of psychological distress. This is around four times the rate observed in the general Australian population.

The mental health system is important to our community, and we all want a community that can support each another. But Victoria is facing a mental health crisis. As the system struggles to keep up, more and more family members, carers and supporters – including family of birth, choice, adoptive family and kin – are stepping in to fill the gaps.

Today VANISH is proud to unite with Tandem Carers and a coalition of 27 mental health, community sector and grassroots organisations to call on Victoria’s political leaders to commit to meaningful action to support mental health carers.

Together, we’re calling on political parties and candidates to:

• Create a dedicated mental health carer policy agenda
• Listen to mental health carers and families about the issues affecting them, value their expertise and what they say they need to care sustainably and well
• Build an understanding of the diverse communities impacted by mental health caring
• Embed the mental health carer voice in policy, service design, and delivery at the highest level
• Champion relationship-centred mental health services that recognise the important role families and carers play in supporting mental health recovery and wellbeing

Read the Call-to-Action and add your voice: tandemcarers.org.au/2026election/Call-to-Action

Today is World Su***de Prevention Day and this year’s theme is ‘changing the narrative on su***de’.You might be surprise...
10/09/2026

Today is World Su***de Prevention Day and this year’s theme is ‘changing the narrative on su***de’.

You might be surprised to hear the words ‘adoption’ and ‘su***de’ or ‘mental health’ in the same sentence. That’s partly because the happy families and joyful reunions on the news and in the movies don’t leave much room for anything else.

But sadly, many of us in the adoption community have been touched by su***de.

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

Research is limited, but studies have found that the su***de risk for adopted people is 3-4 times higher than non-adopted people. These findings highlight the serious need for further investigation and intervention for people impacted by adoption.

Changing the narrative on su***de requires systemic change. The evidence is clear that adverse childhood experiences are linked to an increased risk of su***de. It’s time to bring adoption – a life-altering, often invisible trauma – into that conversation.

👉🏼 For members of our community, you are not alone. Talking with others who understand can make a big difference. Contact us on (03) 9328 8611 or [email protected] to access peer support or referral for specialist counselling.

If you or someone you know is feeling suicidal, call Su***de Call Back Service on 1300 659 467 or Lifeline on 13 11 14.

***dePrevention

VANISH team member, support group facilitator, and lifelong adoptee rights advocate SallyRose Carbines reflects on Easte...
10/09/2026

VANISH team member, support group facilitator, and lifelong adoptee rights advocate SallyRose Carbines reflects on Eastern Health's new plaques to acknowledge their involvement in historical forced adoption practices, featuring a dandelion illustration by artist Kylie Armstrong.

Dandelions have often been used as a symbol of adoption. Like dandelion seeds scattered to the winds, adopted people were uprooted from their biological roots and forced to adapt to new environments.

VANISH began as a grassroots, lived experience-led organisation back in 1989 and we are incredibly fortunate to have adopted people like SallyRose in our team, who brings deep wisdom, expertise and an abiding connection to the adoptee community to her work every day. "It took me a while to find my voice, but I'm so glad I have," she says.

We also commend Eastern Health's commitment to centering lived experience of forced adoption practices, represented by SallyRose and Jo Fraser from ARMS Victoria, throughout the process of developing their apology and commemorative plaque.

https://youtu.be/KCXl-4wBamQ?si=TmaBevKODUoZMbB1

…often complicated, especially for people with an adoption or family separation experience.For some, it's celebration. F...
04/09/2026

…often complicated, especially for people with an adoption or family separation experience.

For some, it's celebration.
For some, it's grief.
For some, it's questions.
For some, it's the father they never knew.
For some, it's the child they were separated from.
For some, it's navigating new relationships in reunion.
And for some, it's a combination of multiple things at once.

Whatever Father’s Day means to you, there’s no ‘right’ way to feel. We hope you can make space for all the complicated feelings that might come up and reach out to someone you trust if you need extra support.

Adoption reunion doesn’t always look like it does on tv. For many mothers and adoptees, finding each other again isn't t...
31/08/2026

Adoption reunion doesn’t always look like it does on tv.

For many mothers and adoptees, finding each other again isn't the end of the story, it's where the harder work starts. Grief doesn't disappear and relationships can keep shifting for years afterwards.

In her memoir 'Did You Find Her?' Jude Newcombe provides an insightful, longterm perspective on the post-reunion journey and the lifelong impacts of being separated from her daughter almost 50 years ago.

Read Jude’s conversation with VANISH’s Hana Crisp on our website: https://vanish.org.au/the-bridge-remains-an-interview-with-jude-newcombe-on-writing-reunion-and-what-comes-after/

Did You Find Her? is available to borrow from the VANISH library. Get in touch if you'd like a copy.

If you need support or guidance around navigating reunion, VANISH offers free, confidential services to anyone affected by adoption or family separation.

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]

Address

North Melbourne, VIC

Opening Hours

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

Telephone

+61393288611

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when VANISH posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category