Photo made by: Piet Gispen
Will van Sebille (1949), birthmother. When I had my son in 1967 at the age of seventeen, I was not allowed to care for him; according to the standards at the time, I was unfit, unstable and had nothing to offer my son.
I have been working for more than thirty years to make visible the mothers who were not allowed tocare for their children. It has become clear to me in recent years that this does not only apply to birthmothers, including the benefits affair: others determine for mothers and parents what is good for their children. In my working life I have had an agency for developing training and teaching materials for intermediate and pre-vocational secondary education. I am chairman of stichting De Nederlandse Afstandsmoeder (the Dutch Birthmother foundation) and involved in many activities related to distance and adoption. For example, I am co-developer and teacher of the minor ‘Professional support after distance and adoption’ and a member of the INEA Advisory Council.
I am currently investigating the portrayal of distant mothers in different types of text.
