Forgotten Australians Project
In 2004, the Senate Community Affairs Committee released its report ‘Forgotten Australians’ outlining the issues that were presented to the Committee during its national inquiry into children in institutional care. The report contained 39 recommendations to Government and non-Government organisations that provided institutional care in the past to address the issues of care leavers.
Following the release of this report the Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare convened a meeting of CEOs and senior managers from its membership to identify ways in which the sector could implement some of the recommendations made by the Senate Committee.
A Sector Working Group, auspiced by the Centre, was formed with representatives from community service organisations who provided institutional care in the past, care leavers (through VANISH and CLAN), Department of Human Services and the Centre. This Working Group has been in operation since late 2004 and serves as a forum for research and advocacy and consultation with care leavers in Victoria.
The following are some of the projects and activities undertaken by the Working Group to date:
- With the support of funding from a philanthropic Trust, a research project was established in 2006, to gather evidence about the life experiences of care leavers. The project was established because there were no known official data sources with information about care leavers that would support an advocacy strategy. 77 Victoria-based care leavers responded to a survey. The research report entitled “It is not too late to care” was launched on 21 July 2008.
- During early 2006, the Centre developed a draft apology which member organisations could adapt to suit the needs of their individual organisations in issuing apologies to their constituents. This apology was developed in consultation with the Sector Working Group. The Victorian Premier issued an apology to Forgotten Australians at the Parliament during August 2006, and announced funding over four years to VANISH and CLAN for providing support to care leavers. The Centre also issued an apology to Forgotten Australians around this time.
- The Centre convened two forums during 2005 and 2006 bringing together a large group of representatives from community service organisations, care leavers and policy makers to showcase work that is currently underway within organisations in implementing the recommendations of the Senate Committee. Work showcased included the setting up of heritage and information and support services for care leavers including reunions etc. These forums have encouraged the sharing of ideas between organisations, and have been well attended.
- The Centre hosted a practitioners’ forum in 2006 in collaboration with the Corporate Integrity Information and Resources Unit at the Department of Human Services, focusing on records management and presented the perspectives of and issues faced by the various players in the records access and management process. This forum was intended to encourage organisations to further explore options for setting up, or developing existing information and records access services for former clients and those who are in the care system today.
- A sub-group of the Sector Working Group is collaborating with the Department of Human Services to set up an appropriate memorial for care leavers in Victoria. This group is also working on finalising the directory of services in Victoria to assist care leavers.
- Currently, some members of the Sector Working Group are assisting DHS to establish a new service for careleavers utilising the budget allocation of $7.1 million over 4 years in the 2008/09 Victorian State Budget.