Story: Adoption

Kiri Te Kanawa

Kiri Te Kanawa

Opera singer Dame Kiri Te Kanawa was adopted as a baby by Tom and Nell Te Kanawa (left and centre right). Dame Kiri's birth mother was Pākehā and her birth father was Māori, ethnicities that were mirrored by her adoptive parents. Looking back, she said that early knowledge of her adoptive status made her ambitious to excel in life.

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New Zealand Woman's Weekly
Reference: 9 March 1970

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How to cite this page:

Anne Else, 'Adoption - Growth in adoption', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/photograph/26050/kiri-te-kanawa (accessed 30 March 2024)

Story by Anne Else, published 5 May 2011, reviewed & revised 18 Apr 2018