Potentially thousands of adoption records have been discovered in the basement of the former St Anne’s Maternity Home – now St John of God Mt Lawley Hospital.

Association Representing Mothers Separated from Children By Adoption (ARMS) WA Coordinator Lynne Devine said the find has increased hope that thousands of people will be able to discover information about their pasts.

“Quite often, when people try to find out what actually happened in their particular case, they’re not actually allowed access to the records,” Ms Devine said.

“There’s a lot of secrecy and pretense involved with this.”

Press PLAY to hear more about how the find may affect the lives of thousands of people