CAROLYN McGrath was drugged when they took her daughter away.
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She was 19 and had given birth in a Hobart hospital.
She had told her obstetrician and a social worker engaged by him to support her through the pregnancy that she wanted to keep her child, but they took her anyway.
``My baby was taken from the labour room,'' Ms McGrath said.
``I can clearly recall a nurse going to hand me my baby after its bath, but the doctor said no.''
Ms McGrath met her daughter, Cristy, when Cristy was 19 years old, and they remain in touch.
She told her story yesterday at the unveiling of a new statue dedicated to people affected by forced adoptions that occurred in Tasmania as late as the 1980s.
Ms McGrath was one of several women whose children were taken from them, who selected the design by Tasmanian artist Kristina Nichols to stand as a permanent reminder in the Royal Botanical Gardens in Hobart.
The Tasmanian government apologised to victims of forced adoption last year.
Premier Lara Giddings said she hoped the Tree of Hope sculpture would become a place for families affected by the process to visit and seek solace, and for others in the community to learn what they had been through.
Ms McGrath said she hoped the apology and the memorial would help people to heal.
``(I hope it helps people ) accept what I've accepted: That this has happened to us,'' she said.
``We can't change it. But we can move on.''