In this episode of Family Matters, Simon speaks with Ellen T Brumder, a New Zealand-based advocate who moved here from Texas 15 years ago and was stunned to discover how rare adoption had become.
Last year, despite nearly 1,000 couples inquiring about adopting a baby; 200 trained to adopt, and around 100 pregnant women being open to adopting – only one open adoption was granted in New Zealand. Ellen is on a mission to change that.
Together they unpack what open adoption actually is and how it works in practice, the latest Oranga Tamariki statistics, the research that backs open adoption (including a 35-year study of over 1,000 adoptees), and why birth mothers who choose it say they’d do it again by a ratio of 13 to 1.
They also tackle the “Primal Wound” theory, the mental health impact of abortion (drawing on a major 2025 Quebec study of 1.2 million pregnancies), New Zealand’s falling birth rate and rising child abuse rates, and what New Zealand can learn from the cultural shift that took place in Texas — including Governor Greg Abbott’s own open adoption story.
Ellen also highlights the large Oranga Tamariki budget for adoption services, that they employ almost sixty staff, and yet there is little to show for it.
🔗 Learn more and get involved: www.openadoption.org.nz 💬 Have a question or a story to share? Drop it in the comments below. — #familymatters #familyfirstnz
