Gillian Triggs tells of giving up disabled daughter

Gillian Triggs has spoken in depth about the baby girl she gave up to be raised by another family.

Gillian Triggs has spoken in depth about the baby girl she gave up to be raised by another family.

The Australian Women’s Weekly interviewed the Australian Human Rights Commission president about her child, Victoria, who was born in 1984 with a disability and died at the age of 21.

While Professor Triggs had made passing reference to Vict­oria in a Fairfax interview in 2013, this was the first time she had ­spoken about what unfolded and her decision to give her to another family to raise.

Victoria was born with ­Edwards syndrome, a chromo­somal disorder associated with organ abnormalities, defects and an intellectual disability.

Explaining the difficult decision, Professor Triggs said she had had two toddlers at home and with three children under four it was “very difficult” to look after Victoria.

She decided to give her daughter to the United Church’s respite carer, a woman named Margaret.

“I said, ‘I’m really reluctant to leave her with you because I would feel terrible if she died’. But she said she had experience looking after (high-needs) children so I left her holding a red-faced ­Victoria, and she settled her quite quickly,’’ she told the magazine.

Professor Triggs said she had initially left Victoria with the carer at weekends but eventually, with work and family commitments increasing, she reversed the arrangement so the carer looked after her during the week.