Identifying and assisting individuals who experienced institutional care as children 106-01030040

People who have spent time in institutional care as children can present in the health and welfare system seeking help for a range of issues faced as a result of their experiences.

Individuals who experienced institutional care may interact with the department because of a specific issue such as homelessness, family and domestic violence or unemployment.

It is estimated that more than 500,000 people experienced life in an orphanage, children's home, institution, prison, training school, adult psychiatric (asylum) hospital, foster care or other forms of out-of-home care in the 20th century in Australia (2004 Senate Inquiry).

Adults who were in institutional care as children may identify themselves as members of the 'Stolen Generation', 'Forgotten Australians' or 'Former Child Migrants'. Some may also identify themselves as 'care leavers', 'homies', 'state wards', or 'ex-residents'.

The National Redress Scheme was established in response to the recommendations provided by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

The scheme is a government program that provides support to people who were sexually abused as children while in the care of an institution. It is one way the government is working to acknowledge and help people who experienced child sexual abuse.

The scheme will run for 10 years and is available for survivors of child sexual abuse in institutional settings, including where the institution employed children, delivered activities for children, or delivered state functions in the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory before self-government.

Each group of adults has its own unique history and characteristics as a result of distinct government policies, practices and interventions shaping their experiences. There have been a number of separate Senate Inquiries and a Royal Commission Inquiry into Australia’s treatment of these children. These include:

• Bringing them Home Report (1997) - report into the Stolen Generations, the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families and community. Many Indigenous children were removed because of their race and as a consequence, lost connection with their culture and land
• Lost Innocents: Righting the Record Report on child migration - 2001 report into child migrants. Children who were migrated, primarily from the United Kingdom to Australia, in the post-war period without their families and often without the knowledge of their parents
• Forgotten Australians: A report on Australians who experienced institutional or out-of-home care as children - 2004 report into Australians who experienced institutional care as children and who were not covered by the previous 2 inquiries
• Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse - The royal commission ran from 2013-2017 and inquired into and reported upon responses by institutions to instances and allegations of child sexual abuse in Australia

On 13 February 2008, on behalf of all Australians, the Australian Government delivered a formal Apology to the Stolen Generations. This was followed by a formal Apology to Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants on 16 November 2009.

The apologies acknowledged that many of these children suffered neglect and were abused physically, emotionally and/or sexually while in care. For many of the survivors, the effects of institutional care are ongoing and can have long-lasting impacts felt throughout their adult lives. The families, partners and children of survivors have also felt the impact of the trauma, which can then flow through to future generations.

While there have been separate inquiries into these experiences, and different language and terms used to identify various groups, the members of these broad groups do share many experiences and characteristics as a result of being separated from their families, communities and culture. Many of these children lived together in the same institutions.

Individuals who experienced institutional care as children have responded differently to the challenges faced. Some survivors have completed their education and progressed their careers, formed relationships and raised their own families, and held positions in various community and social groups.

Others live with a range of health and medical conditions, as well as financial and social disadvantages that include lower educational outcomes and literacy levels, unemployment, homelessness, and high rates of mental illness, which can include symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Some common long-term impacts of institutional care can include:

• A lack of trust and security. Resulting from experiences of abandonment, separation and maltreatment
• Loss of identity. Many children who were placed in institutional care lost connections to their families, communities, culture and identity
• Feelings of guilt and shame. Individuals may feel responsible for, or ashamed by, the abuse they experienced
• Mental illness. Includes depression, anxiety, PTSD, dissociation, phobias, paranoia, confusion and personality disorders. See Providing services to customers with disabilities
• Poor interpersonal and life skills. Individuals may experience challenges when engaging in some interpersonal and life skills, in particular social and parenting skills, normally acquired through family socialisation processes. This can result in:
• difficulties forming and maintaining stable, loving relationships
• difficulties with parenting: Many children have grown up without parental role models and may experience lesser capacity or knowledge to care appropriately for their own children. For some, this may lead to involvement with the Child Protection system
• Health and aging. Many adults who were in institutional care are now aged in their late 50s to mid-80s. They often live with a range of health and medical conditions resulting from their negative experiences in institutional care. Many are fearful of being re-institutionalised in aged care facilities or through their interactions with government and community agencies
• Poor educational and employment outcomes. This can include lower literacy and numeracy skills, difficulties with finding and maintaining employment, lower levels of income, and a higher representation of survivors among welfare populations
• Engaging in risk-taking behaviours. This can include drug and alcohol abuse and self-harm