I heard today while waiting for the cross to Parliament one of the stolen generation interviewed, or maybe she was not one.
It reminded me, maybe told me while we debate the issues constantly it ends the same.
People I respect say I am right wing and uncaring , some I do not say I am racist.
But isn't it true this country has not yet learned to look after our children.
Let us remember as many white kids get raped and bashed as Aboriginal.
The most common link seems to be based on economic grounds not race.
Well here is what i heard ABC radio on being asked why she was there this Lady said I am from the stolen generation I came to hear them say sorry.
She went on to say she was taken away because of the fighting and the grog and after her mother tried to kill herself.
She offered the information her brother had raped her and her siblings so at least she got away from that.
But was raped by those who had been meant to look after her.
Do we drop into insulting one another again? or can we ask why this can happen in our country to any one?
Room exists to look closer at this on going failure but if it is not published I will understand.

Belly,
I am not surprised at the story of this woman. The 'Bringing them Home' report and the 'Forgotten Australians' report is full of such stories. Both inquiries were given very similar evidence.

While I think some kids of aboriginal heritage were taken because they were part aboriginal, some were taken because they were genuinely in danger from family members or others who considered them outcasts. No figures or percentages seem to be available one way or the other. Some of these kids ended up im childrens homes that took in both anglo kids and aboriginal kids. Both reports mention some of the same homes.

The anglo kids in the homes were there because they had committed criminal acts or were orphaned or neglected or in danger. Again there does not seem to be figures or percentages indicating one or the other.

I am convinced our society let these kids down terribly because we did not ensure they had proper care and safety. Their evidence is really horrific in most cases. Physical and sexual abuse was a common theme. This occured in the homes and in foster care and adoption. But some said they were treated well in a few homes and by their foster or adoptive parents.

This is what we really need to feel sorry about. Their treament after removal from the family home.

Yes Banjo I agree but let us not turn it into an Aboriginal thread.
I assure you believe me in every detail that family could have been white has been and is white just as often.
They come from big family's, poor family's, family's who over use grog or drugs.
They often come from family's that are not well educated.
Yes before the avalanche I know other parts of the community are involved.
Step fathers brothers and visitors to the extended family's are often the offenders.
I am aware some offenders are ex victims, but can not bring my self to be as concerned for them as the present generation victims.
Just look for your self and read the almost weekly reports of failure to protect children, we see the tip of a large ice berg here.
Family's unite to hide these events wives and mothers protect sons and husbands, but it comes into the light in time.
As always, no way around it , politically correct people are the problem not the answer.
Judges magistrates setting offenders nearly free, can you even think without pain of that then 7 year old in the NT?
Welfare groups who sit on their hands and talk while crimes so horrific continue?
Can we get it out into the light of day some offenders , no not color every race are so badly educated they can not understand how great the crime is?
This country must have one child welfare set of rules one federal government department for all children and it must come now.

Belly,
Sure. Now we have done the history bit, because you mentioned that womans experiences, let us get on to discuss the present situation of child wefare.

Only the other day I heard a woman say that child sexual abuse is on the increase generally. This woman was somethinmg to do with a sexual abuse support group, and if she is correct it is very disturbing.

I also feel for DOCS staff as it seems they are damned if they do and damned if they don't.

If you get up 'The Australian' website and go to features there is an item called 'Alone and in limbo'. It is well worth a read about DOCS.

Belly “say I am racist.”

Oh a few do that to me too.

The issue of childcare is one of the basic measures of humanity.

Because of their vulnerability (children, of any background or ethnicity), I recognize that there is a greater oversight of child care by the community beyond the immediate responsibility of the natural carers (the parents).

This responsibility applied to all children, equally.

I will always acknowledge the greater benefits to be derived from a child being brought up by his or her natural parents. Lenin experimented with an alternative and so too the Israeli kibbutz system and in the end recognized the failure of alternatives compared to the natural family circle.

However, when children are at risk we expect action. Better a child alive and with some imperfect future in an orphanage than a child left to die in the “care” of their natural parent(s).

“The most common link seems to be based on economic grounds not race.”

I disagree, economic grounds might be another sympton of the cause but is not the cause.

Ultimately child neglect and abuse comes down to two issues, neither of them economic

1 personal attitude and respect for the rights of others, children included.

These people are more likely commit crimes of property to others and crimes of abuse on their children because “others” have no value (narcissism).

2 inherited experience.
Someone abused is more likely to be an abuser. We see it in pedophiles and in violent bashers.

Neither of those reasons are economically based. Children can be loved and cherished as well in a “poor” family as a “wealthy” one.

Re “Their treatment after removal from the family home.”

I think the treatment children in state homes and orphanages is a separate issue to any failings at the hands of family.

The duty of care has more profoundly failed because the “standards” of a state institution should be beyond reproach and above that expected from (possibly) struggling and inexperienced parents.

Beware the Col Rouges of this world who tell us that a complex phenomenon like institutionalisation of children come down to "two issues, neither of them economic".

And beware the Banjos of this world who claim to 'know' that "the anglo kids in the homes were there because they had committed criminal acts or were orphaned or neglected or in danger. Again there does not seem to be figures or percentages indicating one or the other."

We don't need to speculate too freely about this topic. The big reports (Bringing Them Home, Lost Innocents and Forgotten Australians) as well as the reports of various state enquiries (Forde in Queensland, Ombudsman in Tasmania and the forthcoming Mullighan report in SA) provide plenty of well-documented data - if only OLO posters would read them.

There's also historical material gathered meticulously at various points in time. For example, Len Tierney in ‘ Children who need Help: a study of child welfare policy and administration in Victoria’ (1963) lists the reasons why children (both wards of the state and those admitted by their families) were admitted to institutions in Victoria. Many of these children are still alive and telling their stories today - if only people would listen.

In Tierney's research, the main reasons why wards of the state were admitted to care in 1961 were:
• Neglect 54%
• Parental separation 16%
• Disorderly behaviour of the child 14%
• Affliction of the parent 8%.

For children admitted by their families, the main reasons were:
• Parental separation 36%
• Affliction of the parents 27%
• Neglect 19%
• Child born out of wedlock 11%

In an era when child care, welfare services and government financial support were crude, poverty played an enormous part in children and families getting on to the institutional treadmill. This is heavily documented.

Banjo is spot on when he says: "...our society let these kids down terribly because we did not ensure they had proper care and safety."