'There's More to be Done; Sorry is Just a Word': Legacies of Out-of-Home Care in the 20th Century

Elizabeth Fernandez, Jung Sook Lee, Wendy Foote, Hazel Blunden, Patricia McNamara, Szilvia Kovacs, Paul Auguste Cornefert

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

Abstract

This research explored the experiences of care leavers, who lived in institutions (such as Children's Homes and orphanages) or other forms of out-of-home care between 1930 and 1989. Participants included representatives of three sub-cohorts: Forgotten Australians, members of the Stolen Generations and Child Migrants. Employing mixed methods, this research used three forms of data collection: Surveys (n = 669), interviews (n = 92) and focus groups (n = 77). This research concentrated on participants' experiences in care, leaving care, life outcomes after care (education, employment, health, wellbeing and relationships), coping strategies and resilience, current service needs and usage and participation in organisations as well as the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. Most participants experienced extreme neglect and abuse while in care. Leaving care, often after years of institutionalisation, was generally a frightening and demoralising process. Despite these challenges, a number of participants demonstrated remarkable resilience. For many, however, these experiences had negative consequences in adulthood including serious physical and mental health problems. This often made adult learning, paid employment and positive relationships virtually impossible. Most survivors carry high levels of trauma and complex unmet needs. Implications for policy, practice and services are drawn from key findings.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)176-197
Number of pages22
JournalChildren Australia
Volume42
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sep 2017
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Child Migrants
  • Forgotten Australians
  • Stolen Generations
  • care leavers
  • institutions
  • maltreatment
  • outcomes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of ''There's More to be Done; Sorry is Just a Word': Legacies of Out-of-Home Care in the 20th Century'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this