Submissions Library

This submission details a family’s experience of failures and injustice within the child protection system.

Lily Woodward’s submisison describes the abuse and challenges she faced as a child in the child protection system and her subsequent experiences of having her own children removed.

Anita Mobourne is a Wamba Wamba, Yorta Yorta, and Gunditjmara and Wotjobaluk woman.

This submission is a transcript of Anita talking about her family’s experiences, her working life and the importance of connection, culture and identity.

Thomas Marks is a Wotjobaluk/Gunaikurnai man.

In this video submission, originally produced for the Disability Royal Commission, Thomas decribes the lifelong impact of being part of the Stolen Generations.

Denise Sweet is a Bundjalung Gumbaynggirr woman currently on Wergaia country.

This submission is a transcript of Denise Sweet recounting her family’s experiences of injustice since colonisation.

The Find & Connect web resource is funded by the Commonwealth Department of Social Services to document the history of child welfare in Australia. The resource assists people who grew up in out-of-home care, including Forgotten Australians, Former Child Migrants and members of the Stolen Generations, to discover and access information and records about their time in care. It is managed by the Find & Connect web resource team, based at the University of Melbourne.

This submission makes recommendations to address the ongoing inequality between Victorian First Peoples and other Australians trying to discover their history in care, their families, and their experience of records access.

This submission is from a a Barkindji/ Yorta Yorta/ Wiradjuri/ Mutti Mutti woman.

It details her experience in the foster care system, which led to trauma, drugs and alcohol, and their subsequent positive experince and sobriety through Bunjilwarra.

Charmaine Sellings lives in Lake Tyres and works at the Lake Tyres Aboriginal Trust. Her grandfather was stolen generation from Healesville but was raised by Elders at the Lake Tyers Aboriginal Trust, and her Grandmother was a Kurnai woman and born at the Lake Tyers Aboriginal Trust.

This submission describes the impact of ongoing racism, child removal and intergenerational trauma. It make suggestions for change including an increase in funding and respect.

This submission is about the author’s experience as a child in out of home care and their interactions with DHS as they grew up. It also their describes their subsequent treatment by DHS as a parent.

This submission details JR’s experience as a victim of ongoing family violence by their ex-partner. It focuses on JR’s interactions with child protection services and instances of false reporting against their current partner who is an Aboriginal man.