The ACOSS Statement of Apology acknowledges the role that welfare services have played in the Stolen Generations, and commits to the reconciliation process and to working to improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing.read more
Last week’s terrible news that a 10-year-old Aboriginal girl had taken her own life shook many Australians. Yet there would be few Aboriginal families who have not already been affected by the suicide or attempted suicide of their young people. This includes our own extended families and kin.read more
This report is a review of the first two years of projects funded under the Healing Foundation’s Stolen Generations Initiative 2013-2015. ISBN: 978-0-9871884-8-9read more
This paper considers the usefulness of theory and practice in mainstream psychology in relation to the experiences of Indigenous people directly affected by the practice of child removal. It consists of an interview in which one of the authors, Joyleen Koolmatrie, an Indigenous psychologist, reflects on her work with Indigenous people affected by the removal, including a description of her workshops, which have been conducted throughout Australia, and a reflection by the authors on the...read more
An annotated poem inspired by the inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families challenges us to consider our involvement in this issue. DOI: 10.1080/00050060008260341read more
Aboriginal history since colonisation has been largely shaped by government policies. The most striking and destructive historical policies directed at Aboriginal people concerned those that advocated the removal of Aboriginal children from their parents and their placement in white foster homes or institutions. This paper reports on interviews with seven Indigenous participants who had been removed from their families and communities early in childhood. The most dramatic psychological impact on those who had been separated...read more
This chapter considers the removal of Indigenous children as a global colonial and neocolonial tactic. The history of the Australian Stolen Generations is focused on, from the beginning of the abduction of children in the early 1900s up until 2015. The landmark 1997 Bringing Them Home: Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families was central to the emergence of national and international awareness of...read more
The purpose of the resource is to: Strengthen and build upon the work already being done in the community by Stolen Generations members, organisations and groups to provide collective healing responses. Encourage the inclusion of collective healing responses in services provided to the Stolen Generations, including support groups, group therapy programs, day trips on country, healing circles, healing camps and reunions. Improve the range and quality of social and emotional wellbeing and healing programs available...read more
In December 1997, in response to the first recommendation of Bringing Them Home: Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families, the Commonwealth Government announced the National Library would be funded to develop and manage an oral history project. The Bringing Them Home Oral History Project ran from 1998 to 2002 and served to collect and preserve the stories of Indigenous people and others, such...read more
