Sadly the actions of government continue to perpetrate abuse. We have a little girl in our care whom the Dept of Communities (Child Safety)acknowledge should be returned to her mother due to a "mistake" in her being removed - i.e. the child is not, nor was ever, at risk. However, due to staff shortages, there is no one to complete the investigation paperwork so the little girl and her family remain seperated for at least the next four weeks (& quite possibly longer.)

Removing children from situations of abuse and neglect is critical to their chances of recovery. Keeping children apart from their families due to "staffing issues" exacerbates trauma for both child and family.

Rather than protecting this child the Qld State Govt department continues to inflict undue suffering and trauma. Sometimes child protection agencies do little to protect the children they are charged with protecting, and for completely avoidable reasons, while other children languish in situations of vile abuse and neglect for extraordinary lengths of time before any action is taken.

I can't see that this, as with many other issues, has anything to do with government. It's a criminal action. Too often people sacrifice personal responsibility and call on the government to fix everything up.

Prosecute the offenders to the maximum extent of the law.

What sort of help are we talking about that will restore shattered lives.
Do you need fisecal help, or do you need to help yourself.
Surely we are not talking about monetary help.
I couldn't see any amount of monetary help being an aid for anything.
I think the best you could do is to make sure this sort of thing does not happen to anyone else. If you have the experience of abuse you should be a good guide as to preventing this from happening again.

The point so many are missing is what happened to children up until the 1990/s was illegal and condoned by the government.
Institutions were only closed in the late 80' and 90's so the problem could be moved along. There was no screening of foster parents and the abuse continued.
The media are reporting the Forgotten Australians only covers up to the 70's. This is not correct and is being fostered by those who want the issue to just "go away". The media once again have got it wrong and need to do their job with dillegence and report factually.
We cannot access our records without jumping through many hoops and red tape. and when we do there are many gaps and untruths.Everyone has the right for information about their past, especially medical records and school records, can you imagine growing up and not having the information of who you are and why this has happened to you and your family. This must be rectified. Many records have been deliberatley destroyed to protect the perpetrators.
The apology from the Federal Government on the 16th November will assist many with the healing, and acknowledge what happened should not have been allowed to happen, they will acknowledge our truth and we will be believed, however, the apology needs to be addressed to the families of us Forgotten Australians as well, they are the ones who have suffered through the lack of care and education we suffered as children. If this is not addressed the aftermath of past governments policies will continue on for generations to come.
This must stop it can never be allowed to happen again, our government must never have the ability to sweep past wrongs under the carpet again, they must acknowledge their past mistakes and correct the history of this country.

Sooner or later one can only hope the media and others get it right, I hope and pray tomorrow our Prime Minister has done his homework regarding dates we were incarcerated an from when the the present time.

Not my words but those of the Senate Committees findings.

"1.6 The Committee received 440 public submissions and 174 confidential submissions. A list of individual and organisations who made a public submission or provided other information that was authorised for publication by the Committee is at Appendix 1. The extensive nature of this inquiry can be recognised from the submissions received by the Committee.

Submissions were received from care leavers (Forgotten Australians) who had been in government and non-government institutions or foster homes across all States in Australia and spanning the period from the 1920s to the 1990s.

Appendix 6 provides a summary listing from submissions of all the institutions the care leavers (Forgotten Australians) who provided those submissions had been placed in. The span of years they were in those homes as described in submissions is summarised in Appendix7"

I thought I would break this paragraph up so all are able to see the actual time period quoted in the report.

Sunday the 16/11/2009 is our day the Child Migrants and the Forgotten Australians, be sure to be in fine voice we have waited an eternity for this; the doors are opening and hopefully we will be helped along the road to get our dignity back.

It was at the hands of Government incompetence they allowed us to be abused and neglected please don't let some convince you otherwise.

If protecting children, in every sense, is not one of a societies most important priorities then what does that say about said society? I am sure my child is not being abused, but that is not enough, I want him to be a part of a society that cares particularly for the most vulnerable and innocent.
I was angry and immesurably hurt that society did not protect me and my sisters, including Aboriginal foster sisters, and friends, too. The abuse was extreme (though I have heard, first-hand, far worse)yet no-one was prepared to listen. I have been on jury duty in a child sex abuse case only to find the same story (specifically age-ism) from that perspective. Rarely do we hear of the statistics of child abuse, except for what the "Children are Sacred" report regarding NT Aboriginal communities stated (differing greatly from ABS reports). Eg. 1 in 4 girls in Aust.(any colour), are sexually abused before they reach 16yrs, see ABS. Australian society is letting its children down, both by not protecting them now and by destroying thier future environmentally, socially and politically.
We need serious cultural level change, children deserve no less.