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Experiences and Outcomes of Adults Who Endured Maltreatment as Children in Care in Australia

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View the page of Elizabeth Fernandez

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Elizabeth Fernandez explored the life experiences of “care” leavers who have lived in institutions (such as children’s homes and orphanages) or other forms of out-of-home care (OOHC) as children.

Image courtesy of interviewee. May 12, 2024

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This video video outlines research on the experiences and outcomes of individuals who were in out-of-home care in Australia, particularly focusing on three vulnerable cohorts: "Forgotten Australians," members of the "Stolen Generations," and British child migrants. The study highlights the responsibilities of state governments regarding child protection and the increasing number of children in care due to mandatory reporting laws.

Key findings include:

1. **Care Statistics**: In 2021, approximately 275,000 children were reported for abuse, with over 45,000 cases substantiated, leading to around 45,400 children placed in out-of-home care in 2022.

2. **Vulnerabilities in Care**: The research reveals significant issues faced by children in care, such as high rates of emotional and behavioral problems, educational neglect, placement instability (with some experiencing 1 to 27 placements), and widespread maltreatment.

3. **Maltreatment Statistics**: 96% of participants reported experiencing some form of maltreatment during their time in care, including sexual, emotional, and physical abuse.

4. **Transition to Adulthood**: Many care leavers reported feeling unprepared for transitioning out of care, often facing homelessness, limited educational achievements, and difficulties with employment. Mental health issues were prevalent, with many experiencing disabilities, physical health problems, and high levels of psychological distress.

5. **Support and Resilience**: Despite various challenges, some individuals displayed resilience, with a small percentage obtaining vocational or higher education degrees, often attributed to supportive relationships.

6. **Future Needs**: Participants expressed a strong desire for trauma-informed care, especially as they age, and emphasized the need for better access to mental health services and compensation for the abuse endured during their childhood.

The study advocates the importance of a compassionate, supportive approach to the care and aftercare of these vulnerable populations, indicating that lessons learned from historical experiences should inform current and future child protection and welfare systems.

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X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

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A number of motivations.

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I think, first of all, I should give you a little bit

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of context about, out of home care

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and child protection in Australia,

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because, certainly that reflects an important aspect,

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motivating this work.

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Um, as you know, that we, in, in Australia,

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I guess, state governments have got statutory

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responsibility, for, I guess,

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protecting children from abuse and neglect.

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And most states we have a national policy

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of mandatory reporting reporting.

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And, as part of mandatory reporting,

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we do see an escalation of reports.

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Um, so to give you some figures,

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in 20 21, 270 5,000 children were notified,

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and 45,000 of them were substantiated after investigation.

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Um, so that's about 5.7 per thousand

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of non-indigenous children

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and 40 per thousand of indigenous children.

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Um, after substantiation, of course,

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the next step quite often is to place children under care

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and protection orders or

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to bring them into out of home care.

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And here again, to give you the scale of the problem

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in 2022,

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and even now, we have 45,400 children

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in our home care, and that is, a rate

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of five per thousand of non-indigenous children

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and 57 per thousand of indigenous children.

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So I guess all this gives us, an awareness

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of the increasing vulnerability of children.

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And also these numbers also reflect the fact that

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thresholds for reporting have been lowered.

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Um, and so we get greater numbers,

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but also there's a lot of concern about this, very,

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forensic investigative, risk aversive approach.

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Um, and people would like to see more

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of a proactive preventive approach that supports families.

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So I guess, if you look at the current,

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care system today with these 45,000 children in care,

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there are issues about what they experience in care in terms

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of, neglected educational outcomes, also in terms

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of high levels of emotional and behavioral problems,

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and, also, I guess, instability in care.

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Um, so this is, I guess, reflective

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of the fact that there are issues even in the current care

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system, and our study certainly can apply learnings

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from it to current care systems in terms of improving,

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the outcomes for care Labors.

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Um, in terms of this particular study, I guess

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the focus is on, looking at adult care leavers

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who were in care's children, during the 19th century,

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in orphanages, in foster care, in institutions

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and so on, and

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who are collectively called the forgotten Australians,

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the British child migrants,

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and the members of the stolen generations.

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So this study focused on, three specific groups.

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And, since the nineties, these adults

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who spent their childhoods in care have come forward

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through various inquiries, public inquiries,

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royal commissions, the media courts

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and so on, to allege abuse

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and neglect, while they were growing up in care.

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And I think that has brought some awareness

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to the community,

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and to us as researchers about this

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particular vulnerable cohort.

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And, so that was part of our motivation

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for focusing on this particular cohort for our study.

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I guess, first of all, let me, tell you

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that this was a massive team effort.

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Um, my co

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principal co co-investigator was Professor Jus Lee,

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from the university,

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and we had three, we had research associate, he, Helen

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Bland, Hazel Blandon, Dr.

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Mcara, Paul Conifer and Sylvia Kova.

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Uh, so we had, you know, a very good research team

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that undertook to collect the data

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and I guess to develop the study.

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So the purpose of the study was

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to look at the care leave experience in care and post-care,

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and through that also to identify what their needs were,

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as they define those needs,

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and also ways in which, they can be supported currently.

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Um, and to look at what services were important,

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for them in that transition into the community.

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So we used a mixed methods approach,

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which included an online survey, which was taken

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by 669, cares, adult Cares.

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Uh, we had interviews with 98 of the care levers, 92,

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and we also had 20 focus groups,

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that involved about 70 caregivers.

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It was a national study,

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and we had participants from different states.

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Um, so, we, had three cohorts.

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As I mentioned to you. First of all,

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the forgotten Australians.

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These are essentially, Australian children

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who came into care in institutions, foster homes,

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and so on, quite often for reasons of poverty.

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And at a time when there weren't,

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family support services

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or benefits that could enable parents

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to look after their children.

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There were other things also such as war

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and, death of parents and so on.

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Uh, the second cohort is, members

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of the stolen generations.

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These, Aboriginal

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and Torres Strait Islander children

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who were forcibly removed from their families

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at a time when there were racist

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assimilationist policies in Australia.

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And, I mentioned this, especially in my earlier

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description of the context in terms of their

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overrepresentation, in the care system,

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in the child protection system.

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And the third group was the British Child Migrants.

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Uh, these were also children who were shipped,

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from the uk, as unaccompanied minors,

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essentially to be brought up in Australian institutions.

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Some of them came from families,

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but, most of them came from,

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institutions in Britain.

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Um, so these are the three cohorts

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that have participated in this study.

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Um, and through the survey, through the interviews,

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through the focus groups, we, were able to explore

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with them a number of areas such as their memories

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of coming into care,

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what it was like growing up in care, their,

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the maltreatment that they experienced,

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and also their aftercare, experiences

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and their current, adult outcomes.

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So that was essentially the focus of the study.

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Um, I must say we had ethics approval from the university

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and from the partner agencies who collaborated with us.

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Um, and, we, also from the Aboriginal,

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medical Council.

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Um, so that's an important part of research in Australia.

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And given that we were,

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interviewing a very vulnerable population, it, you know,

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it was quite a challenging process to get ethics approval.

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Uh, what I forgot to mention was that the,

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the study was done in collaboration

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with six community partners, such

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as the Association for Child Welfare Agencies,

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and, CatholicCare,

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and a few other agencies that Micah Projects,

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who essentially work directly with the forgotten Australians

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and the British child migrants in various,

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services of theirs.

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So that partnership was very helpful in terms of recruiting,

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participants to the study.

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And in terms of advertising the study, we,

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we were also supported

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with an Australian Research Council grant,

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and these are called linkage grants, where,

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community partners make a financial as well

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as in kind contribution.

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And the Australian Research Council then matches it.

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Um, so not only did we have their collaboration in terms

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of recruitment, we also had their financial support,

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from these six agencies.

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Uh, we also had a critical reference group, which included,

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individual academics, researchers,

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and members from the community,

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and members from the stolen generations as well

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represented on that committee.

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So that was the infrastructure we had in terms of,

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conducting the study.

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Um, so, as I said, we

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looked at, their experience in care.

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I'm not sure whether you want to go into some

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of the data we had.

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Um, I guess, in terms of, the time in care,

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on average, there were, eight to nine years in care.

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Uh, when they left care on average, they were about 15,

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though some left earlier.

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Um, and, in terms of, I guess,

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placement stability, you know,

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the experience between one and 27 placement changes.

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Um, and,

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and I'd say about 20% would've had more than

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six placement changes.

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Um, so that was the pattern of instability

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that they experienced that is going between foster homes,

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children's homes, foster parents, and so on.

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Um, education wise, only 19%

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obtained a high school certificate.

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57% didn't obtain any kind

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of schooling, certificate.

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And of course, they reported that these,

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these outcomes were largely due to frequent school changes

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as they changed placement also due to lack of support,

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from teachers who kind of wrote them off most of the time.

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Um, and many of them also said, said

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that they didn't feel safe at school,

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because they experienced maltreatment from adults

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in the institution as well as from the school.

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Um, so in general, those were some of the outcomes

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as far as education is concerned.

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Um, child labor was also quite rampant.

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And, they were, I guess many

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of these institutions were run on the business model.

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And the children

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provided the labor, for, for, for the institution,

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both in terms of, I guess, the maintenance

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of the institution as well as, the looking

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after of the children.

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Um, so about 82% report

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of children are who, you know, 82% reported

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that while they were under the age of 13,

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they undertook an average of about 23 to 24 hours of work,

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hours of work per week.

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Um, so again, you can see the impact

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that would've had on their education as well.

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All types of work, laundry, cleaning,

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farm work, et cetera.

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Um, and quite, strenuous work.

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Also, sometimes, in fact, as adults, many of them

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have had difficulties staying in employment

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because of disabilities from some

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of those earlier experiences.

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Um, maltreatment, of course,

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maltreatment abuse was w widespread in the institution.

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Um, and 96% said they experienced some form

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of maltreatment,

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and quite often there was, co-occurrence

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of different types of maltreatment.

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Um, so to give you some figures, 60%,

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mentioned that they experience sexual abuse,

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55% of those from adults

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and about, 40% from peers.

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So peer abuse was also quite rampant,

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and no one to protect them from that,

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or no one they could turn to for help.

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Of course, today we do have more regulatory systems,

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though not enough.

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But, at that time, again,

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those systems didn't exist.

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And, it was very much a kind of military regime,

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that the children experienced.

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Um, also the, those who experience,

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sexual abuse tended to be of a younger age

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or entered care at a younger age,

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and also indigenous children were overrepresented in terms

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of experiencing sexual abuse.

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Um, yeah, so emotional abuse was another factor,

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and a very high percentage talked about emotional abuse,

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about 85, percent or more,

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and also verbal abuse.

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Um, some of the examples that they gave of the kind

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of emotional abuse that they experienced was sometimes

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if their siblings, misbehaved

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or gotten to any difficulty, they would have

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to stand in a circle

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and, see their sibling being beaten.

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Um, you know, examples like that, which, were,

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you know, just horrendous.

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Um, the other factor was also, verbal abuse,

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a lot of verbal abuse from staff members,

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and a lot of corporal punishment, physical abuse,

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so, so much in terms of their in-care experiences.

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Um, in,

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we then looked also at post-care outcomes after they left.

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Uh, one thing I should mention was,

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how they transitioned from care.

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And quite a large percent, a percentage of them said

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that they were totally unprepared

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for leaving care at the age of 14

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or 15, that they had no one to turn to.

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Some of them were homeless or didn't have a job at the time,

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and virtually describe leaving care as being shone the door.

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Um, so a great sense of, betrayal

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of being let down

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and, of,

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not not experiencing any care at all.

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In fact, they resent being called care leavers

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because they say the term implies

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that they had care, but they didn't.

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Um, so that's a contentious issue as well.

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Um, okay.

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Um, in terms of

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after post care outcomes as adults,

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we explored a number of areas, education, employment,

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health,

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and relationships, family relationships,

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and you do see some resilient outcomes considering

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that they left care, illiterate and innumerate.

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Uh, we do see some positive outcomes,

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which we attribute basically to their, their sense

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of resilience and their determination

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to survive the experience.

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Um, so 25% did obtain trade

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or vocational certificates,

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After they left care in later life.

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Um, about, 7% did a mat, ba,

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bachelor's degree, about 8% did a master's degree,

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and 1%, obtained a PhD.

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Um, so, so most remarkably about,

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10 to 12% of them who had these achievements, did

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so without a school certificate to begin with.

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Um, so you can imagine what it took for them to,

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achieve these outcomes.

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Employment wise. I guess I should have explained that,

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the age of our cohort was between, 29

18:34.785 --> 18:36.605
and a hundred,

18:37.465 --> 18:39.845
and the average age would've been about 60.

18:40.545 --> 18:44.125
So, of course, many of the, Kelly was,

18:44.225 --> 18:46.645
we interviewed were not in the workforce

18:47.425 --> 18:49.365
if they were 60 or over.

18:50.345 --> 18:53.645
Um, but we do also see that many

18:53.905 --> 18:58.485
of the younger participants, that is who were kind

18:58.485 --> 19:01.965
of in their fifties, only 40%

19:01.985 --> 19:05.925
of them were in full-time, or part-time employment.

19:06.705 --> 19:10.285
And some of the reasons I guess they gave were,

19:10.525 --> 19:14.125
disabilities that, were enduring

19:14.185 --> 19:17.285
and that prepare prevented them from being able

19:17.285 --> 19:21.005
to take on particular jobs or to stay in the workforce.

19:22.105 --> 19:26.445
Um, and largely, from, I guess the

19:27.005 --> 19:29.445
physical abuse, the corporal punishment

19:30.065 --> 19:32.365
and the hard labor that they undertook.

19:33.265 --> 19:38.045
Um, another area I guess that

19:38.715 --> 19:41.365
emerges in the data is the,

19:42.265 --> 19:44.885
the involvement in the criminal justice system.

19:46.545 --> 19:49.725
So we have 35% who had a history

19:50.225 --> 19:51.725
of criminal convictions.

19:52.415 --> 19:55.485
About 18% of them were incarcerated.

19:56.385 --> 19:59.565
Um, and, I guess,

20:00.255 --> 20:04.325
there are other socioeconomic outcomes as well,

20:04.675 --> 20:06.325
that we looked at, for example,

20:06.835 --> 20:10.285
generally material hardships, financial hardships,

20:10.905 --> 20:14.325
and we use some standardized measures to look at that so

20:14.325 --> 20:17.725
that we could compare them to the rest of the community.

20:18.465 --> 20:22.565
So, for example, in terms of material hardship, we see

20:22.595 --> 20:27.045
that, you know, for a large, percentage,

20:27.625 --> 20:31.885
you know, they, they experience in the last 12 months,

20:31.985 --> 20:35.205
we asked them to talk about what hardships they experience.

20:35.825 --> 20:39.645
And a couple of things that came up were in comparison

20:39.715 --> 20:42.285
with the rest of the community on these measures.

20:42.865 --> 20:47.405
Um, things like going without meals, not being able

20:47.405 --> 20:51.565
to afford heating, came up as some of the,

20:51.565 --> 20:53.045
hardships that they endured.

20:53.665 --> 20:56.525
Um, the other thing was also homelessness.

20:57.745 --> 21:00.005
Um, about 45%

21:00.505 --> 21:03.985
or more, did experience homelessness

21:04.605 --> 21:08.345
at least at one point in time after they left care.

21:09.205 --> 21:13.225
Um, so these were some of the,

21:13.745 --> 21:16.625
I guess educational and socioeconomic outcomes.

21:17.445 --> 21:21.785
Uh, but again, the, the,

21:22.355 --> 21:25.705
level of physical and mental health, was

21:25.925 --> 21:26.985
of great concern.

21:27.685 --> 21:32.425
Um, and, so we, we did,

21:33.055 --> 21:36.425
explore with them, the different types of physical

21:36.605 --> 21:40.185
and mental health issues, that they had endured.

21:40.685 --> 21:44.345
And here we see, at least 50%

21:45.025 --> 21:46.945
reported some form of disability.

21:47.725 --> 21:50.665
Um, 74%,

21:51.485 --> 21:52.985
had reported physical illness.

21:53.765 --> 21:58.545
Um, and of that at least, 50% had current

21:59.345 --> 22:01.625
physical conditions that they were experiencing.

22:02.645 --> 22:05.025
Um, 70,

22:05.215 --> 22:08.625
5% reported experiencing flashbacks,

22:09.365 --> 22:12.985
and 50%, talked about,

22:13.945 --> 22:15.065
suicidal ideation,

22:15.845 --> 22:19.265
and at least, I think about,

22:20.525 --> 22:24.665
30% had already had actually attempted suicide.

22:25.685 --> 22:30.145
Um, so, yes, these were some

22:30.145 --> 22:32.945
of the mental health issues that they talked about.

22:33.725 --> 22:38.625
And, we tried, again here to compare the level

22:38.685 --> 22:40.665
of psychological difficulty

22:40.765 --> 22:43.705
or distress, that they experience

22:43.895 --> 22:48.665
with the community samples such as the national, survey

22:48.765 --> 22:51.425
of mental health and wellbeing of young people, of,

22:51.485 --> 22:52.905
individuals.

22:53.645 --> 22:56.825
And, on that particular measure,

22:57.485 --> 23:01.225
you have different levels of difficulty from low

23:01.285 --> 23:04.985
to very high, and in the high,

23:05.945 --> 23:08.225
re high level of difficulty category.

23:08.845 --> 23:12.825
Um, we see that this particular cohort,

23:13.725 --> 23:16.425
fall into that high category.

23:17.085 --> 23:21.905
And now 14 times, experienced psychological distress

23:22.785 --> 23:26.065
14 times as much as, the community sample.

23:26.725 --> 23:29.785
And here again, there were differences between,

23:30.085 --> 23:33.025
the cotton Australians, the child migrants,

23:33.525 --> 23:37.905
and the indigenous, individuals,

23:37.975 --> 23:42.145
with the indigenous cohort experiencing the highest level

23:42.645 --> 23:46.765
of psychological distress in on that particular measure.

23:49.265 --> 23:53.325
So, I guess, it was helpful

23:53.505 --> 23:54.685
to make that comparison.

23:55.505 --> 23:58.685
Um, and, while at the same time,

23:58.685 --> 24:02.125
while people spoke about, you know, their feelings of,

24:03.465 --> 24:07.085
betrayal and, of their,

24:07.085 --> 24:11.445
vulnerabilities in terms of mental health, concerns,

24:12.025 --> 24:15.645
they also talked about,

24:15.695 --> 24:17.325
their strengths and their achievements.

24:18.065 --> 24:22.445
Um, so I guess,

24:22.965 --> 24:26.125
considering what they had been through in their childhoods,

24:26.505 --> 24:31.405
it was interesting to see, how they identified

24:31.995 --> 24:35.525
some of the strengths, some of the protective factors,

24:35.525 --> 24:38.285
that en en enabled them to cope with life.

24:38.905 --> 24:43.085
Um, and among those, they referred to, I guess,

24:43.105 --> 24:47.725
family networks, friendship networks, partners,

24:48.315 --> 24:52.445
spouses, who really helped them to get

24:52.445 --> 24:56.885
through some of these, difficulties, in later life.

24:57.465 --> 25:00.725
Um, I mean, some of them talked about,

25:01.265 --> 25:04.645
easily sliding into the criminal justice system,

25:04.905 --> 25:08.965
had it not been, for, for partners

25:09.465 --> 25:13.405
or particular adults in their network who were able

25:13.405 --> 25:14.765
to support them through that.

25:15.365 --> 25:17.765
I mean, one of the issues also with children

25:17.945 --> 25:21.325
who came into care through these institutions was

25:21.325 --> 25:24.725
that they were separated from, quite often from siblings.

25:25.465 --> 25:29.925
Um, and also there were very few requirements

25:29.925 --> 25:32.925
that enabled them to have contact with their families.

25:33.545 --> 25:37.525
So many of them left care strangers

25:37.745 --> 25:41.085
to their own siblings and also to their families.

25:41.825 --> 25:46.605
Um, and it was, some of them in their thirties

25:46.985 --> 25:51.085
and forties, were beginning to reconnect

25:51.085 --> 25:55.965
with great difficulty, with the people, for instance,

25:55.985 --> 26:00.525
the child migrants with, relatives in their country,

26:00.985 --> 26:05.245
and also, forgotten Australians as well as the members

26:05.265 --> 26:08.485
of the stolen generation who were forcibly removed.

26:08.865 --> 26:10.925
Um, having to,

26:11.595 --> 26:15.605
explore ways whereby they could connect with family,

26:15.755 --> 26:18.205
because they had lost those links.

26:18.785 --> 26:22.405
And also, you know, it was,

26:24.635 --> 26:28.305
they, some of them, they were identified

26:28.325 --> 26:30.185
by numbers in the institution,

26:31.045 --> 26:35.465
and some of them, I guess, were unable

26:35.485 --> 26:36.905
to search,

26:36.905 --> 26:39.985
because they didn't have any information about family

26:40.445 --> 26:41.625
or their own history.

26:42.085 --> 26:46.725
So this dislocation, from their families,

26:47.105 --> 26:49.845
was a major factor for many of them.

26:50.605 --> 26:54.245
I think the important thing is to, first of all,

26:54.345 --> 26:58.725
to recognize that, this, cohort,

26:59.585 --> 27:02.285
we did ask them what would they like

27:02.285 --> 27:04.205
to see happen in their lives now,

27:04.385 --> 27:06.005
and what are their priorities?

27:06.705 --> 27:11.165
And one of the things, that many of them raised was,

27:11.345 --> 27:13.565
the issue of appropriate aged care,

27:13.795 --> 27:16.805
because many of them, they are now an aging cohort.

27:17.705 --> 27:21.165
And, and that was very high on their agenda.

27:21.865 --> 27:24.885
And particularly they wanted to not

27:24.885 --> 27:27.765
to experience institutional aged care,

27:27.905 --> 27:30.645
but rather family-based aged care

27:30.755 --> 27:32.725
that could be supported adequately,

27:33.035 --> 27:37.765
because that would replicate some of the,

27:38.075 --> 27:42.685
emotional experiences that they had while living in care.

27:42.985 --> 27:44.925
And, so I guess,

27:45.475 --> 27:47.605
that was an important factor for them.

27:48.305 --> 27:53.005
And in fact, I, I'm now involved in a round table,

27:53.625 --> 27:57.085
national round table, for age care

27:57.185 --> 28:01.165
that's looking particularly as, particularly at,

28:01.825 --> 28:06.605
the issue of, trauma informed age care for,

28:06.825 --> 28:10.085
forgotten Australians and other care leavers,

28:10.505 --> 28:12.525
and a number of other issues as well.

28:13.185 --> 28:16.445
Uh, another factor is, I guess, access

28:16.505 --> 28:18.765
to services as they need them.

28:19.545 --> 28:23.485
Um, I'm not sure what the case is in many other countries,

28:23.625 --> 28:25.685
but sometimes,

28:26.065 --> 28:29.365
in many situations they talked about being,

28:29.435 --> 28:32.005
allocated the opportunity to have counseling,

28:32.005 --> 28:34.445
but it's limited to six sessions,

28:34.985 --> 28:37.005
or four sessions or eight sessions.

28:37.625 --> 28:41.005
And, given what they've been through, they feel that,

28:41.505 --> 28:44.285
you know, this just, a series

28:44.385 --> 28:46.885
of six sessions is not going to be enough for them

28:47.035 --> 28:48.885
because these issues recur

28:49.565 --> 28:53.405
whenever it's Christmas, when it's birthday or some event.

28:53.865 --> 28:56.685
Um, they revisit some of the trauma.

28:57.265 --> 29:00.165
Um, so that's been, a factor.

29:00.465 --> 29:04.805
So, important, factor here is healthcare,

29:04.805 --> 29:09.485
healthcare that recognizes their frailty and their need

29:09.625 --> 29:10.725
and their special needs.

29:11.625 --> 29:14.925
Um, I guess,

29:15.555 --> 29:20.125
redress is irrefutable, compensation and redress,

29:20.345 --> 29:23.125
and there've been many organizations

29:23.465 --> 29:26.685
and also, state entities

29:26.685 --> 29:30.405
that have been looking into the issue of, compensation.

29:31.145 --> 29:33.365
For example, we've had the Royal Commission

29:33.425 --> 29:35.125
that's looked at sexual abuse.

29:35.705 --> 29:39.085
Uh, but the concern is that, you know,

29:39.275 --> 29:43.925
they endured various types of abuse, which are equally,

29:44.425 --> 29:47.765
you know, debilitating and have lifelong impacts.

29:48.265 --> 29:52.525
So that physical abuse, emotional abuse, doesn't seem

29:52.525 --> 29:55.845
to be recognized, as deserving of

29:56.345 --> 29:59.405
or in need of redress and compensation.

30:00.025 --> 30:02.045
And yet they enjoyed a great deal of that.

30:02.185 --> 30:06.885
So looking at, I guess, the opportunity to,

30:07.625 --> 30:11.445
to receive services as well as compensation in these areas,

30:12.305 --> 30:14.285
I think a better health,

30:14.525 --> 30:17.685
a better developed health safety net,

30:18.065 --> 30:19.085
is needed for them.

30:19.865 --> 30:22.645
Um, and, as I mentioned

30:22.705 --> 30:27.045
before, non-institutional forms of aged care,

30:27.115 --> 30:31.045
that would, you know, that would not rele,

30:31.435 --> 30:34.005
replicate some of the oppressive aspects

30:34.435 --> 30:37.565
that they experienced while they were growing up

30:38.145 --> 30:42.565
in institutions and children's homes and foster homes.

30:43.345 --> 30:47.005
So I guess, you know,

30:47.395 --> 30:48.845
they were brought into care,

30:49.065 --> 30:53.445
but they were deprived of any nurture, love, empathy,

30:54.105 --> 30:55.525
and support,

30:55.905 --> 30:59.005
and instead experienced a high level of exploitation.

30:59.705 --> 31:02.845
Uh, and I think that is not always, recognized.

31:03.385 --> 31:08.005
Um, and, so I guess with this, round table,

31:08.865 --> 31:12.205
one of the, items on the agenda is

31:12.205 --> 31:13.925
to create awareness

31:14.705 --> 31:18.285
and also to ensure that, aged care systems

31:19.135 --> 31:21.645
train their staff to be trauma informed

31:22.145 --> 31:25.365
and to know more about, forgotten Australians

31:25.465 --> 31:28.005
and child migrants who might come into their care.

31:28.745 --> 31:31.645
Um, so these are some of the implications.

31:32.465 --> 31:35.765
And finally, I think applying some of these learnings

31:35.765 --> 31:38.925
to current care systems, they're not perfect.

31:39.545 --> 31:41.445
Um, there are still issues,

31:41.555 --> 31:44.685
that children experience while they're in care in terms

31:44.705 --> 31:45.965
of multiple placements.

31:46.465 --> 31:49.605
Uh, even in terms of leaving care,

31:49.945 --> 31:53.725
we do still see high levels of unemployment.

31:54.105 --> 31:58.685
Um, and we also see, I guess, the issue

31:58.685 --> 32:02.485
of homelessness, that much of the leaving care research,

32:02.485 --> 32:03.965
current, leaving care research,

32:04.465 --> 32:06.605
the contemporary research is also showing.

32:07.385 --> 32:12.205
Um, so basically perhaps we do have some better regulatory

32:12.205 --> 32:16.445
systems that would pick up on some of the abuse,

32:17.145 --> 32:20.805
but, and be and offer more protection to children.

32:21.265 --> 32:25.445
But even so, there are reports of children,

32:25.535 --> 32:27.525
being abused while they're in care.

32:28.305 --> 32:31.845
So it's also about what messages the research can offer

32:31.845 --> 32:33.005
to current care systems.

00:00 - A number of motivations. I think, first of all, I should give you a little bit of context about, out of home care and child protection in Australia, because, certainly that reflects an important aspect, motivating this work.

00:17 - as you know, that we, in, in Australia, I guess, state governments have got statutory responsibility, for, I guess, protecting children from abuse and neglect. And most states we have a national policy of mandatory reporting reporting. And, as part of mandatory reporting, we do see an escalation of reports. so to give you some figures, in 20 21, 270 5,000 children were notified,

00:55 - and 45,000 of them were substantiated after investigation. so that's about 5.7 per thousand of non-indigenous children and 40 per thousand of indigenous children. after substantiation, of course, the next step quite often is to place children under care and protection orders or to bring them into out of home care. And here again, to give you the scale of the problem in 2022,

01:29 - and even now, we have 45,400 children in our home care, and that is, a rate of five per thousand of non-indigenous children and 57 per thousand of indigenous children. So I guess all this gives us, an awareness of the increasing vulnerability of children. And also these numbers also reflect the fact that thresholds for reporting have been lowered. and so we get greater numbers, but also there's a lot of concern about this, very,

02:11 - forensic investigative, risk aversive approach. and people would like to see more of a proactive preventive approach that supports families. So I guess, if you look at the current, care system today with these 45,000 children in care, there are issues about what they experience in care in terms of, neglected educational outcomes, also in terms of high levels of emotional and behavioral problems, and, also, I guess, instability in care. so this is, I guess, reflective

02:56 - of the fact that there are issues even in the current care system, and our study certainly can apply learnings from it to current care systems in terms of improving, the outcomes for care Labors. in terms of this particular study, I guess the focus is on, looking at adult care leavers who were in care's children, during the 19th century, in orphanages, in foster care, in institutions and so on, and who are collectively called the forgotten Australians,

03:37 - the British child migrants, and the members of the stolen generations. So this study focused on, three specific groups. And, since the nineties, these adults who spent their childhoods in care have come forward through various inquiries, public inquiries, royal commissions, the media courts and so on, to allege abuse and neglect, while they were growing up in care. And I think that has brought some awareness

04:11 - to the community, and to us as researchers about this particular vulnerable cohort. And, so that was part of our motivation for focusing on this particular cohort for our study. I guess, first of all, let me, tell you that this was a massive team effort. my co principal co co-investigator was Professor Jus Lee, from the university,

04:40 - and we had three, we had research associate, he, Helen Bland, Hazel Blandon, Dr. Mcara, Paul Conifer and Sylvia Kova. so we had, you know, a very good research team that undertook to collect the data and I guess to develop the study. So the purpose of the study was to look at the care leave experience in care and post-care, and through that also to identify what their needs were, as they define those needs,

05:20 - and also ways in which, they can be supported currently. and to look at what services were important, for them in that transition into the community. So we used a mixed methods approach, which included an online survey, which was taken by 669, cares, adult Cares. we had interviews with 98 of the care levers, 92, and we also had 20 focus groups, that involved about 70 caregivers. It was a national study,

06:01 - and we had participants from different states. so, we, had three cohorts. As I mentioned to you. First of all, the forgotten Australians. These are essentially, Australian children who came into care in institutions, foster homes, and so on, quite often for reasons of poverty. And at a time when there weren't, family support services or benefits that could enable parents

06:34 - to look after their children. There were other things also such as war and, death of parents and so on. the second cohort is, members of the stolen generations. These, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were forcibly removed from their families at a time when there were racist assimilationist policies in Australia.

07:02 - And, I mentioned this, especially in my earlier description of the context in terms of their overrepresentation, in the care system, in the child protection system. And the third group was the British Child Migrants. these were also children who were shipped, from the uk, as unaccompanied minors, essentially to be brought up in Australian institutions. Some of them came from families, but, most of them came from,

07:39 - institutions in Britain. so these are the three cohorts that have participated in this study. and through the survey, through the interviews, through the focus groups, we, were able to explore with them a number of areas such as their memories of coming into care, what it was like growing up in care, their, the maltreatment that they experienced, and also their aftercare, experiences

08:12 - and their current, adult outcomes. So that was essentially the focus of the study. I must say we had ethics approval from the university and from the partner agencies who collaborated with us. and, we, also from the Aboriginal, medical Council. so that's an important part of research in Australia. And given that we were, interviewing a very vulnerable population, it, you know, it was quite a challenging process to get ethics approval.

08:52 - what I forgot to mention was that the, the study was done in collaboration with six community partners, such as the Association for Child Welfare Agencies, and, CatholicCare, and a few other agencies that Micah Projects, who essentially work directly with the forgotten Australians and the British child migrants in various, services of theirs. So that partnership was very helpful in terms of recruiting,

09:28 - participants to the study. And in terms of advertising the study, we, we were also supported with an Australian Research Council grant, and these are called linkage grants, where, community partners make a financial as well as in kind contribution. And the Australian Research Council then matches it. so not only did we have their collaboration in terms of recruitment, we also had their financial support,

10:01 - from these six agencies. we also had a critical reference group, which included, individual academics, researchers, and members from the community, and members from the stolen generations as well represented on that committee. So that was the infrastructure we had in terms of, conducting the study. so, as I said, we looked at, their experience in care.

10:35 - I'm not sure whether you want to go into some of the data we had. I guess, in terms of, the time in care, on average, there were, eight to nine years in care. when they left care on average, they were about 15, though some left earlier. and, in terms of, I guess, placement stability, you know, the experience between one and 27 placement changes. and,

11:15 - and I'd say about 20% would've had more than six placement changes. so that was the pattern of instability that they experienced that is going between foster homes, children's homes, foster parents, and so on. education wise, only 19% obtained a high school certificate. 57% didn't obtain any kind of schooling, certificate. And of course, they reported that these,

11:50 - these outcomes were largely due to frequent school changes as they changed placement also due to lack of support, from teachers who kind of wrote them off most of the time. and many of them also said, said that they didn't feel safe at school, because they experienced maltreatment from adults in the institution as well as from the school. so in general, those were some of the outcomes as far as education is concerned. child labor was also quite rampant.

12:28 - And, they were, I guess many of these institutions were run on the business model. And the children provided the labor, for, for, for the institution, both in terms of, I guess, the maintenance of the institution as well as, the looking after of the children. so about 82% report of children are who, you know, 82% reported that while they were under the age of 13,

13:00 - they undertook an average of about 23 to 24 hours of work, hours of work per week. so again, you can see the impact that would've had on their education as well. All types of work, laundry, cleaning, farm work, et cetera. and quite, strenuous work. Also, sometimes, in fact, as adults, many of them have had difficulties staying in employment because of disabilities from some

13:31 - of those earlier experiences. maltreatment, of course, maltreatment abuse was w widespread in the institution. and 96% said they experienced some form of maltreatment, and quite often there was, co-occurrence of different types of maltreatment. so to give you some figures, 60%, mentioned that they experience sexual abuse, 55% of those from adults

14:08 - and about, 40% from peers. So peer abuse was also quite rampant, and no one to protect them from that, or no one they could turn to for help. Of course, today we do have more regulatory systems, though not enough. But, at that time, again, those systems didn't exist. And, it was very much a kind of military regime, that the children experienced.

14:39 - also the, those who experience, sexual abuse tended to be of a younger age or entered care at a younger age, and also indigenous children were overrepresented in terms of experiencing sexual abuse. yeah, so emotional abuse was another factor, and a very high percentage talked about emotional abuse, about 85, percent or more, and also verbal abuse. some of the examples that they gave of the kind

15:17 - of emotional abuse that they experienced was sometimes if their siblings, misbehaved or gotten to any difficulty, they would have to stand in a circle and, see their sibling being beaten. you know, examples like that, which, were, you know, just horrendous. the other factor was also, verbal abuse, a lot of verbal abuse from staff members, and a lot of corporal punishment, physical abuse,

15:57 - so, so much in terms of their in-care experiences. in, we then looked also at post-care outcomes after they left. one thing I should mention was, how they transitioned from care. And quite a large percent, a percentage of them said that they were totally unprepared for leaving care at the age of 14 or 15, that they had no one to turn to. Some of them were homeless or didn't have a job at the time,

16:30 - and virtually describe leaving care as being shone the door. so a great sense of, betrayal of being let down and, of, not not experiencing any care at all. In fact, they resent being called care leavers because they say the term implies that they had care, but they didn't. so that's a contentious issue as well. okay.

17:01 - in terms of after post care outcomes as adults, we explored a number of areas, education, employment, health, and relationships, family relationships, and you do see some resilient outcomes considering that they left care, illiterate and innumerate. we do see some positive outcomes, which we attribute basically to their, their sense of resilience and their determination

17:39 - to survive the experience. so 25% did obtain trade or vocational certificates, After they left care in later life. about, 7% did a mat, ba, bachelor's degree, about 8% did a master's degree, and 1%, obtained a PhD. so, so most remarkably about, 10 to 12% of them who had these achievements, did so without a school certificate to begin with.

18:17 - so you can imagine what it took for them to, achieve these outcomes. Employment wise. I guess I should have explained that, the age of our cohort was between, 29 and a hundred, and the average age would've been about 60. So, of course, many of the, Kelly was, we interviewed were not in the workforce if they were 60 or over. but we do also see that many

18:53 - of the younger participants, that is who were kind of in their fifties, only 40% of them were in full-time, or part-time employment. And some of the reasons I guess they gave were, disabilities that, were enduring and that prepare prevented them from being able to take on particular jobs or to stay in the workforce. and largely, from, I guess the physical abuse, the corporal punishment and the hard labor that they undertook.

19:33 - another area I guess that emerges in the data is the, the involvement in the criminal justice system. So we have 35% who had a history of criminal convictions. About 18% of them were incarcerated. and, I guess, there are other socioeconomic outcomes as well, that we looked at, for example, generally material hardships, financial hardships,

20:10 - and we use some standardized measures to look at that so that we could compare them to the rest of the community. So, for example, in terms of material hardship, we see that, you know, for a large, percentage, you know, they, they experience in the last 12 months, we asked them to talk about what hardships they experience. And a couple of things that came up were in comparison with the rest of the community on these measures. things like going without meals, not being able to afford heating, came up as some of the,

20:51 - hardships that they endured. the other thing was also homelessness. about 45% or more, did experience homelessness at least at one point in time after they left care. so these were some of the, I guess educational and socioeconomic outcomes. but again, the, the, level of physical and mental health, was of great concern.

21:27 - and, so we, we did, explore with them, the different types of physical and mental health issues, that they had endured. And here we see, at least 50% reported some form of disability. 74%, had reported physical illness. and of that at least, 50% had current physical conditions that they were experiencing. 70,

22:05 - 5% reported experiencing flashbacks, and 50%, talked about, suicidal ideation, and at least, I think about, 30% had already had actually attempted suicide. so, yes, these were some of the mental health issues that they talked about. And, we tried, again here to compare the level of psychological difficulty or distress, that they experience

22:43 - with the community samples such as the national, survey of mental health and wellbeing of young people, of, individuals. And, on that particular measure, you have different levels of difficulty from low to very high, and in the high, re high level of difficulty category. we see that this particular cohort, fall into that high category. And now 14 times, experienced psychological distress

23:22 - 14 times as much as, the community sample. And here again, there were differences between, the cotton Australians, the child migrants, and the indigenous, individuals, with the indigenous cohort experiencing the highest level of psychological distress in on that particular measure. So, I guess, it was helpful to make that comparison. and, while at the same time, while people spoke about, you know, their feelings of,

24:03 - betrayal and, of their, vulnerabilities in terms of mental health, concerns, they also talked about, their strengths and their achievements. so I guess, considering what they had been through in their childhoods, it was interesting to see, how they identified some of the strengths, some of the protective factors, that en en enabled them to cope with life. and among those, they referred to, I guess,

24:43 - family networks, friendship networks, partners, spouses, who really helped them to get through some of these, difficulties, in later life. I mean, some of them talked about, easily sliding into the criminal justice system, had it not been, for, for partners or particular adults in their network who were able to support them through that. I mean, one of the issues also with children who came into care through these institutions was

25:21 - that they were separated from, quite often from siblings. and also there were very few requirements that enabled them to have contact with their families. So many of them left care strangers to their own siblings and also to their families. and it was, some of them in their thirties and forties, were beginning to reconnect with great difficulty, with the people, for instance, the child migrants with, relatives in their country, and also, forgotten Australians as well as the members

26:05 - of the stolen generation who were forcibly removed. having to, explore ways whereby they could connect with family, because they had lost those links. And also, you know, it was, they, some of them, they were identified by numbers in the institution, and some of them, I guess, were unable to search, because they didn't have any information about family

26:40 - or their own history. So this dislocation, from their families, was a major factor for many of them. I think the important thing is to, first of all, to recognize that, this, cohort, we did ask them what would they like to see happen in their lives now, and what are their priorities? And one of the things, that many of them raised was, the issue of appropriate aged care,

27:13 - because many of them, they are now an aging cohort. And, and that was very high on their agenda. And particularly they wanted to not to experience institutional aged care, but rather family-based aged care that could be supported adequately, because that would replicate some of the, emotional experiences that they had while living in care. And, so I guess, that was an important factor for them.

27:48 - And in fact, I, I'm now involved in a round table, national round table, for age care that's looking particularly as, particularly at, the issue of, trauma informed age care for, forgotten Australians and other care leavers, and a number of other issues as well. another factor is, I guess, access to services as they need them. I'm not sure what the case is in many other countries, but sometimes,

28:26 - in many situations they talked about being, allocated the opportunity to have counseling, but it's limited to six sessions, or four sessions or eight sessions. And, given what they've been through, they feel that, you know, this just, a series of six sessions is not going to be enough for them because these issues recur whenever it's Christmas, when it's birthday or some event. they revisit some of the trauma.

28:57 - so that's been, a factor. So, important, factor here is healthcare, healthcare that recognizes their frailty and their need and their special needs. I guess, redress is irrefutable, compensation and redress, and there've been many organizations and also, state entities that have been looking into the issue of, compensation. For example, we've had the Royal Commission

29:33 - that's looked at sexual abuse. but the concern is that, you know, they endured various types of abuse, which are equally, you know, debilitating and have lifelong impacts. So that physical abuse, emotional abuse, doesn't seem to be recognized, as deserving of or in need of redress and compensation. And yet they enjoyed a great deal of that. So looking at, I guess, the opportunity to, to receive services as well as compensation in these areas,

30:12 - I think a better health, a better developed health safety net, is needed for them. and, as I mentioned before, non-institutional forms of aged care, that would, you know, that would not rele, replicate some of the oppressive aspects that they experienced while they were growing up in institutions and children's homes and foster homes. So I guess, you know,

30:47 - they were brought into care, but they were deprived of any nurture, love, empathy, and support, and instead experienced a high level of exploitation. and I think that is not always, recognized. and, so I guess with this, round table, one of the, items on the agenda is to create awareness and also to ensure that, aged care systems train their staff to be trauma informed

31:22 - and to know more about, forgotten Australians and child migrants who might come into their care. so these are some of the implications. And finally, I think applying some of these learnings to current care systems, they're not perfect. there are still issues, that children experience while they're in care in terms of multiple placements. even in terms of leaving care, we do still see high levels of unemployment.

31:54 - and we also see, I guess, the issue of homelessness, that much of the leaving care research, current, leaving care research, the contemporary research is also showing. so basically perhaps we do have some better regulatory systems that would pick up on some of the abuse, but, and be and offer more protection to children. But even so, there are reports of children, being abused while they're in care. So it's also about what messages the research can offer

32:31 - to current care systems.

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