A Canberra-based law firm is preparing a class action against the Sisters of Mercy in WA on behalf of women who say they were forced to give up their babies at St Anne’s Hospital.
Porters Lawyers Associate Mia Donald said the prospective suit relates to alleged cases of forced adoption in the 60s and 70s.
“The class action is against those responsible for operating and managing the hospital at the time,” she said.
Ms Donald said the firm hoped to come to Perth in August to speak to anyone who has information about the adoptions.
A 65-year-old woman who told The Record she was forced to give up her child at St Anne’s Hospital, now known as Mercy Hospital Mount Lawley, said she would not take part in the class action because she “could never hurt Archbishop Barry Hickey”.
The woman was reunited with her daughter through the not-for-profit adoption support group, Adoption Jigsaw.
She said the St Vincent de Paul Society and Archbishop Emeritus Hickey had supported her during difficult periods of her life and she would not participate in the case.
In a statement, the Institute of Sisters of Mercy Australia and Papua New Guinea said they are committed to working with any person who believes he or she has a complaint to bring against them.
Speaking on behalf of the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of Australia and Papua New Guinea, Sister Bernice Loch said she recognised that it is not always easy to bring about the healing of past hurts, particularly where considerable periods of time may have elapsed since the events which have given rise to the complaint.
However, she said, healing remains the outcome the Sisters want.
St Anne’s Hospital was opened as a nursing home in 1937 and changed its name to Mercy Hospital in 1996 to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of the arrival of the Sisters of Mercy in WA.