Enhancing Direct Practice with Forgotten Australians: What is the Experience of Service Providers?

ABSTRACT

The term “Forgotten Australians” refers to adults who as children were placed in out-of-home care in Australia between 1920 and 1989. Following the Australian Government’s apology to Forgotten Australians in 2009, the Federal and State Governments funded specific services to address the lifelong consequences of abuse and neglect inflicted upon Forgotten Australians. The impacts include difficulty forming and maintaining relationships, poor educational outcomes, unemployment, and poverty. The ability of service providers to engage Forgotten Australians and provide appropriate counselling has been given little research attention. This article reports on a survey of providers delivering counselling to Forgotten Australians regarding their knowledge and experiences in delivering services. Effective practice with Forgotten Australians requires knowledge of the history of Forgotten Australians, the uniqueness of the experiences of individual Forgotten Australians, and working within respectful relationships. The study highlights that preparing counsellors to work with Forgotten Australians requires specific training.

IMPLICATIONS

• Service providers who work with Forgotten Australians (care leavers) require an understanding of the historical context in which Forgotten Australians experienced abuse and neglect while in institutions and out-of-home care. The compounding long-term impacts of institutionalisation affect Forgotten Australians in numerous ways, pointing to a need for targeted service delivery for this group.

• Key professional disciplines need to include knowledge and skills to work with Forgotten Australians (care leavers) in their curricula to promote best practice in conjunction with training across a range of services that promote service providers’ understanding of the experiences of Forgotten Australians.

• Service delivery should be empowering, non-hierarchical, and encompass understandings of trauma and attachment.

“被遗忘的澳大利亚人”是指1920年到1989年之间作为儿童被置于失家看护的那些成年人。2009年澳大利亚政府向被遗忘的澳大利亚人表示了道歉，之后联邦和州政府资助了专门的服务机构来解决这些人受虐待、被遗忘的经历所造成的终身影响，包括难以形成并无法过保持人际关系、教育结果差、失业、贫穷等等。服务提供者是否有能力与被遗忘者相处，能否提供适当的咨询，这些都缺少研究。本文介绍了一项针对服务提供者相关知识和经验的调查。有效地服务于被遗忘者需要了解这个人群的整体历史以及个体的独特经历，还需要在互相尊重的关系中相处。本研究强调，为被遗忘的澳大利亚人提供咨询服务，需要特别的训练。

KEYWORDS:

• Forgotten Australians
• Care Leavers
• Out-of-Home Care
• Institutional Care
• Trauma
• Trauma-Informed Service Delivery

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the Forgotten Australians who generously participated in the evaluation and demonstrated their commitment to building effective services for all Forgotten Australians. We acknowledge the external providers, the management and staff of Open Place, Berry Street and Research Assistants Kathy Gilbert and Francine Hanley, who contributed to the evaluation.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).