GregKidd

For all my father raged against bureaucracy, it was his second language. Without that skill, the capacity to translate the words of organisational power, I would not have been Greg’s child.

As I sat by his ICU hospital bed at the Royal Melbourne Hospital in December 2025, I received the release of my adoption records from the department of justice adoption service.

I don’t know what prompted me to Google getting my records months ago, but this line struck me:

“Many people affected by adoption find it beneficial to seek the records that were created at the time of the adoption.“

https://www.vic.gov.au/past-adoption

I suppose I never considered myself “affected by adoption” – that sounds so negative and I viewed my adoption as a very positive part of life. It’s clear that I was affected though, it would be silly to deny it.

And sitting there, with the shell of a body that once housed my ultimate fighter of a Dad, I read the “records that were created at the time of the adoption”

Having since taken a government job myself, and Dad having worked as a housing officer for Paraquad, I know how much power the bureaucracy has over people’s lives. It’s easy to forget when you’re in those roles that you literally change lives with your decisions.

I tried searching for the man in 1986 who saw Greg Kidd and Jennifer Kidd as people and gave them the chance at a family. I think he has passed on.

But I thank him.

I can attest to that even if I was only three when it was all happening.

And His Honour John Nixon, former Judge of the County Court. 

A practising member of the Bar from 1959 with a thriving practice in common law until his appointment to the County Court of Victoria in 1981, a position he held for almost 30 years. In his obituary penned by the Victorian Bar Association he was well remembered for being courteous, incisive, fair and compassionate.

May we all practice our bureaucratic roles with the same fairness and integrity.