Absconding is a term used to describe the act of running away or escaping from an institution, foster home or other place of care. The report of the 2004 Senate “Forgotten Australians” inquiry stated that ‘absconding was a widely reported practice’ in children’s institutions around Australia. Various child welfare laws around Australia made absconding or…
The Child Migrants Trust (CMT) was established in 1987 by English social worker Margaret Humphreys to address the issues surrounding the deportation of children from Britain, and to offer to former child migrants and their families services including counselling, support for family reunions, and family research. Since 2010, the CMT has administered the UK government-funded…
Frontier Services was formed in 1977 when the Uniting Church was established and the inland missions of the Presbyterian, Congregational and Methodist Churches were combined.
The Australian Inland Mission (AIM) was established in 1912 by the Rev John Flynn (later founder of the Royal Flying Doctor Service) of the Presbyterian Church. The initial focus of AIM was to provide medical services to those living in remote Outback areas. The AIM’s work was primarily in the Northern Territory, but also was…
Maternity Homes were institutions that provided residential accommodation to pregnant women, usually single women, and they often functioned (officially or not) as adoption agencies. Women gave birth in maternity homes attended by a midwife. Many maternity homes were also ‘rescue homes’ which tried to reform the young mothers. These institutions were sometimes known as lying-in…
The Inquiry into the Implementation of the Recommendations of the Lost Innocents and Forgotten Australians Reports, which began in 2008, was conducted by the Senate’s Community Affairs References Committee. Its report Lost Innocents and Forgotten Australians Revisited, was released in June 2009. In September 2008, the Senate referred the following matter to the Community Affairs…
The Overseas Children Scheme (Australian terminology), also known as the Children’s Overseas Reception Board Scheme (British terminology), was a program to evacuate children from Britain to various Commonwealth countries so that they could escape the German bombing during World War Two. A total of 577 children came to Australia as evacuees under this scheme. They…
Juvenile delinquency was a term used to describe the behaviour of children and young people who are committing criminal offences, or thought likely to commit offences, at a young age. This behavior could include vandalism, truancy, stealing, fighting, running away from home or being sexually active. Many children in institutions were labelled as delinquents, or…
Clean break theory provided a basis for many adoptions in the twentieth century. The theory is based on the idea that babies’ characteristics are formed by their environment rather than their genes. There was a widespread belief that a “clean break” was beneficial for the personality development of babies of single mothers, and that they…
Forced adoption (or forced family separation) are the terms now used to describe the practices where many pregnant unwed women (and their partners) were subjected to unauthorised or illegal separation from their children. From the 1950s to the early 1970s, the prevalence of forced adoption in Australia was high. These practices were unethical, immoral and…
Dec 18, 2024
Nov 15, 2024
