Maxi

I think sometimes people (myself included) misunderstand you - you can appear aggressive and dogmatic sometimes. This time, however, you have made yourself abundantly clear - clear as a diamond. Yes, how we treat the vulnerable, our children, irrespective of race or culture, is the foundation for our well being as a community and whether or not we can call ourselves civilised.

I do believe, however, that we need to acknowledge where we have gone wrong and an apology is a good start. I admit it is only a start and not worth anything if we don't follow through and love and teach our children well.

Have a good week end.

I don’t know where we would be without hypocritical, obfuscatory preaching, no one would open anymore threads CJ! And yes I had to go look up that O word. Means nitpick so there.

RobP, I didn’t think the people that sent their kids off to boarding school would consider their children members of The Forgotten.

I thought these were kids in institutions without family.

“The moral to the story is that abuse can happen to anyone who is not in a position of power and who accidently breaks the rules.”

I think it was the level of abuse endured and the level of helplessness and that whether rules were broken or not and accidental or not they were not cared for or protected and had no one to defend them as children. Not being defended is the worst when young and powerless.

Yep sounds like fostering in 2009 but Fractelle is right I guess, an apology is a start.

Thanks Fractelle, I know I sometimes don't express myself clearly, I'm still learning, please bear with me.
I've found this forum to be an excellent way to do so, and the posters here challenging, which was exactly what I'd hoped for!I'm growing even as I type, and LOVING it!
Nyah Hah Hah, the ol' "learn as you go" caper, works every time!
The day I stop growing, you can bury me!

Hi All,

The plight of the forgotten or stolen generation of Australians.
Consider the following. Not only our indigenous people suffered (and their cases are very real). Due to the culture of the time, those of English and other nationalities descent also suffered.
Christianity considered it a “sin” for a child to be born out of wedlock. Pregnant girls were forced to give up the baby. They were not given the right to keep it. Sometimes they were thrown out on the street.
Parents considered the girl had shamed and embarrassed them. While the girl had committed a “sin”, the male got off scot-free. Society accepted the male was “just sewing a few wild oats”.
Today we continue disregarding the rights of many Australians. As a community advocate I see many of the problems created by an Australian parliamentary, legal and DHS system that appears to perpetuate this culture.
E.g. Unlike Britain and some European countries where the rights and welfare of the child take precedence Australia appears more concerned with protecting the rights of the parents. In Australia, the rights of the child have a lower priority.
Marriage breakdown is accepted by society rather than encouraging people to work at their marriages, even it means working on some compromises. The acceptance here is domestic violence. Where the breakdown involves violence, the children become the “meat in the sandwich”, continuing to suffer via the parental right to access.
Where marriages break up is a result of domestic violence and the children want to stay only with the nurturing and protective parent, courts frequently allow access on the basis that the children are too young to understand. This may not change until e.g. the child reaches around 10 years old. A child can suffer abuse for many years and may suffer a lifetime of emotional problems. By this definition an intellectually disabled child, might never reach an age of comprehension.
Complaints made by a child, unless witnessed by an adult, are likely to be treated as hearsay.
I could go on and write a book.
Regards
professori_au

The Pied Piper,

"RobP, I didn’t think the people that sent their kids off to boarding school would consider their children members of The Forgotten."

They probably don't consider it so, but I was trying to widen things a little by pointing to the fact that anyone who was abused and who never received true healing, an apology or the opportunity to speak out freely about their experience is to some degree a Forgotten Australian. The example I gave above pales against what was done to the British orphans that were sent to Australia of course and the amount of healing they need is much greater than those that were given the cane at boarding school for instance.

I was also trying to find a segue way towards connecting CJ's to PtB's comments which isn't easy because they are a long way apart. The connection, in the context of this discussion, is that if justice is anchored high up in the societal hierarchy, it will be much easier to get an atonement and true healing for the victims.

Many children have been abused over the years in institutions. I think in the case of the Forgotten Children there is an element of complete lack of duty of care on the part of both the British and Australian governments of that time. British child migrants, mostly orphans, taken without accountability to any member of their family and forced to help populate the British colony of Australia.

Some of these children were told their parents were dead when in actuality they were alive but considered unable to care for their families due to poverty, imprisonment or just being born on the wrong side of the tracks. The parents were also told their children had died. This is an abominable betrayal of trust.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/eastmidlands/series9/week_nine.shtml

I think the Forgotten Children case warrants special consideration and an apology may help many of them move on.

All child abuse is abhorrent and the suggestions above of greater scrutiny and oversight by an Audit body is worth pursuing to ensure it never happens again.

I think we have come some way in ensuring those professions that deal with children have no criminal convictions to child related offences but it could go further to ensure that children are not left alone with an adult for any length of time.

The same rule could apply to priests, scout leaders and anyone who has charge of children, although I can see how this could become a frustrating bureaucratic requirement.