STOLEN GENERATION

The Stolen Generation refers to the systematic removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families and communities. From 1883 to the early 1970’s an estimated 100,000 Indigenous children were forcibly removed.

A major function of Goondir Health Services is its Stolen Generations & Counselling Service. Goondir provides two counsellors who are able to address a full range of emotional and social problems endured by survivors of the Stolen Generation and their families who are presently going through family reunification.

The counsellors also assist Goondir clients who may be ‘at risk’ and, where required refer them to the appropriate specialists. It is understood from information provided that the 2nd counselling position is only funded to June 30th 2004. The Service Area covered by the Stolen Generation program is in excess of 240,000 square klm with a client population of approximately 10,000 plus. It’s been identified that the Program is under staffed and require more counsellors to meet community needs in our service area. It is recommended that additional Stolen Generation Counsellor positions be funded beyond June 2004 and that these positions be recurrent and be included in the Services ongoing base funding.

The 'Bringing Them Home' Report
The National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children (The Inquiry) from Their Families was established by the then Attorney General, Michael Lavarch MP on 11th May 1995.

The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (HREOC) President Sir Ronald Wilson and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Mick Dodson conducted the inquiry. They were assisted by thirteen Co-Commissioners and by Members of an Indigenous Advisory Council and a range of experts in Indigenous rights, international law, health and juvenile justice.

The government asked HREOC to look specifically at four areas of key concern ‘terms of reference’ and to report back to the government on their findings. The terms of reference for the Inquiry were:

a) Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families by compulsion, duress or undue influence

b) Adequacy of the need to change current laws, practices and policies related to services and procedures currently available to those affected by the separations

c) What principles were relevant to determine justification for compensation?

d) Examine current laws, practices and polices where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are placed in care

The Inquiry was:

• asked to examine if the current laws related to the placement and care of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children away from their families needed to be changed to take account of the principle of self-determination for Indigenous people.
• established in response to increasing concerns among Indigenous agencies and communities:
  - that the Australian practice of separating Indigenous children from their families had never been formally examined
  - that the long term effects of those separation policies and practices on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, their families and their communities had never been investigated or even acknowledged.
• asked to trace the past laws, practices and policies that resulted in the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families by compulsion, duress or undue influence and the effects of those laws and practices and policies and was required to consider the adequacy of current laws in this regard and to look at what might be done to help those children and their families redress the losses suffered while taking into account the principle of self-determination by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The Inquiry with its limited budget relied on voluntary witnesses to come forward and tell their stories and took evidence in public and private sittings from many different people including:

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
Government and church representatives
Former mission staff
Foster and adoptive parents
Doctors and health professionals
Academics
Police

There were 777 submissions received which included:

535 Indigenous individual and group submissions
49 church submissions
7 government submissions, and
500 confidential submissions.

The report was submitted to the Parliament in April 1997.

One of the most important aspects of the Bringing Them Home was to place on record the grief, the guilt and the suffering that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers and their families experienced, and are still experiencing today. More information on “Bringing Them Home” can be found here.

"Indigenous children have been forcibly removed from their families and communities since the very first days of European occupation in Australia. In that time, not one Aboriginal and Torres Strait family has escaped the effects. Many families have been affected in one or more generations by the removal of one or more children. Nationally, the Inquiry concludes that between 1 in 3 and 1 in 10 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were forcibly removed from ther families and communities between 1910 and 1970.

Effects relating to the Stolen Generation include:

• Insecurity and lack of self-esteem, feelings of worthlessness
• Depression and suicide
• Delinquency and violence sometimes leading to imprisonment
• Alcohol and drug abuse and/or
• Lack of trust and intimacy

For the majority of witnesses to the Inquiry, the effects have seen multiple, continuing and profoundly disabling. The trauma of separation and attempts at 'assimilation' have damaged their self esteem and well-being, and impaired their parenting and relationships. In turn their children suffer. There is a cycle of damage people find difficult to escape unaided". Quoted from 'Bringing Home' Report.

The Goondir Health Service's Stolen Generation Worker ensures professional counselling is made available to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are part of the Stolen Generation. The Stolen Generation Worker will provide:

• Confidental referral to a Counselling Service near you
• Confidental referral to "Link-UP" (Qld) Aboriginal Corporation
• This is before, during and after the process of finding your natural family
• Confidental history taking
• Telephone or one to one support
• Stolen Generation information, services and inquiries

The role of the Stolen Generation Worker is to give people an understanding of the social and emotional effects due to the systematic removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from their family and land, which dispossessed them of their culture.

Workshops are provided on:

• Stolen Generation
• Effects arising from Stolen Generation
• Identity and culture
• Mental health awareness
• Suicide awareness
• Drug and alcohol abuse awareness
• Grief and loss
• Social and emotional well-being

Contact Goondir Health Service Stolen Generation Counsellor