Wednesday, 31 August 2022

Care leavers redress scheme

Ms MAXWELL (Northern Victoria) (18:14): (2098) My adjournment is for the Minister for Child Protection and Family Services, and the action I seek is for the government to review its assessment for recognition as care leavers for those who were voluntary placements and impacted by poor record keeping. The campaign over decades continues for the recognition of children who were displaced in the state system because they were voluntary placements and record keeping was a bare minimum or the records were non-existent or have even been destroyed. These children were not immune to the horrific predatory offending that was inflicted on children who were designated wards of the state, yet they remain unrecognised and they continue to feel abandoned.

I will use the very public and courageous example of Tracie Oldham to illustrate this point. Ms Oldham was voluntarily placed into temporary care as a child and attests that this was done with the knowledge of the Supreme Court, but there was no court order required, because it was a voluntary placement. Voluntary placements often occurred when parents experienced hardship or crisis. They were intended to be short-term stays but sometimes carried through for an entire childhood. In the case of Ms Oldham, she was shunted back and forth between foster families, and her childhood memories include brutal violations until her teenage years.

The Victorian government’s submission to the Forgotten Australians inquiry estimated more than 91 000 children were in care in Victoria between 1928 and 2003 and that 59 000 of them were wards of the state. It estimated that there were on average 400 new voluntary placements every year, which equated to the conservative estimate of 17 000 children between 1928 and 1970. Because of the paucity of records, non-wards were described by witnesses to the inquiry as ‘largely invisible’ to state authorities.

Ms Oldham has applied through freedom of information to obtain her childhood documents, but none have been found, because she was a voluntary placement. Her history cannot be substantiated, through no fault of the own, but she has shouldered the consequences of this absence throughout her entire life. Not only does Ms Oldham endure the trauma of not having records that relate to significant periods in her life but it has obstructed her from accessing support and redress for the abuse she suffered. Because the department could not confirm the record of time she was in care, she was unable to receive support and services through Open Place. It has further impeded her pursuing redress.

The Victorian government committed to providing ongoing support to care leavers. However, this is not afforded to those whose placement cannot be substantiated, because of the absence of records. This is a failure of the system at the time, not the children, and there should be an alternative process for those survivors for whom records cannot be found.