They were the kids society didn't want... orphaned or wrenched from broken families, then shunted off to loveless places called - without irony - "homes".
Over decades, tens of thousands of Australian children were sent to state and charitable institutions to be raised by complete strangers.
Some kids were identified by numbers, not by their names. Chores were numbingly routine. Discipline was harsh at best. Many endured extreme cruelty - emotional, physical and sexual.
This is not distant history, but the living present.
For these children are today's middle aged Australians. They live daily with the painful memories and scars of their upbringing…"the bitter, lonely years", as one woman tells it.
Reporter Quentin McDermott finds it's not just the homies who are yet to come to terms with their childhoods. To this day, the people and the organisations that ran the homes struggle to face the past.
"The Homies" was first broadcast on ABC TV on Monday 18 August, 2003.
Dear all,
My Dad, Lewis, passed away last night. They think he had a heart attack.
To everyone who has supported his work and encouraged him in his fight against paedophilia, thank you. He was behind in his emails, but intended to respond to all who have sent messages of support.
Please watch ABC 24 tonight and the rerun of “The Homies” on Four Corners at 8pm.
I will post again when I have details about his funeral, for those who would like to attend.
With love,
Aletha
[Postscript:
Dad believed that we die, we become a pure beam of light energy, unrestricted by time or space. He told me that when it was his time, he was looking forward to exploring the universe.]
toegevoegd 06 10 2015 :
Transcript-(Day-C106).pdf
On 13 August 2003, a program was televised on the ABC
program 'Four Corners'. It was called 'The Homies'. Its
subject matter was victims of child abuse in The Salvation
.
06/10/2015 (C106) C11083 G R RUNDLE (Ms David)
Transcript produced by DTI
Army children's homes during the period 1950‐1979. During
that program a Salvation Army spokesman, Mr John Dalziel,
gave an interview. In it he said, 'We have no statute of
limitations applying to victims of The Salvation Army. The
Salvation Army makes it very clear that we will never close
the book on anyone who has gone through our care as long as
they live, and I believe that we've demonstrated that with
the people we've been helping.' I was so excited when
I watched the program and heard Mr Dalziel's comments.
I felt that this meant that The Salvation Army were not
going to rely on the statute of limitations any more and
that it would help me advance my case. I immediately made
a meeting to see my lawyer the next morning.
On 19 August 2003, my lawyers wrote to The Salvation
Army's Sydney lawyers and asked if they would consent to my
application seeking an extension of time, in light of
Mr Dalziel's assertion that the Salvation Army did not seek
to rely upon the limitation period. On 3 September 2003,
the solicitors for The Salvation Army later responded that
they would not consent to my application and we therefore
had to continue through the court process and hearing of
the application.
I was extremely disappointed as I had high hopes after
watching the Four Corners story. I didn't understand why
The Salvation Army was dealing with my case differently to
what they had announced publicly.
.06/10/2015 (C106) C11084 G R RUNDLE (Ms David)
Transcript produced by DTI
[.....]
Throughout this whole experience, I have reflected on
the fact that you think it's hard enough to move forward
from the abuse and to be believed regarding something that
happened such a long time ago. However, it's also even
more difficult to go to court. The average person that has
been through this can't do it. They don't have the
.
06/10/2015 (C106) C11089 G R RUNDLE (Ms David)
Transcript produced by DTI
strength. I just knew from the beginning, despite the
obstacles, I had to keep on going. What I want to come out
of my story and experience is for the system of reporting
to be improved to make it easier for victims to report
childhood abuse across all institutions, including the
court process.
The thing that made it worse for me after my abuse and
knocked me about is that when I first approached The
Salvation Army, they denied that it ever happened and
treated me very badly. They always refused to provide me
with my records, tried to stop me at every avenue by trying
to get rid of me, dragged out my case and made it harder
for me overall when all I was doing was just telling the
truth.
As mentioned previously, even after Ellis was
convicted and my case was finally settled, I never received
a phone call or letter from anyone from The Salvation Army
to apologise. Everything was done through their lawyers.
I believe their actions would have made it a lot harder for
other victims too.
One other important thing I would like to say and
clear up is the idea that children are resilient and learn
to cope with horrific things that happen to them. The
truth is that we don't ever forget and get over it. Some
time in our lives it will surface and as adults we have to
deal with it. It doesn't ever go away. Once your
childhood is taken from you, it's gone forever. It can't
be returned. That is what we lost most of all, the right
to just be a child. No amount of money will ever
compensate you for that.
They say with death comes peace. It's sad that I will
have to die with the memories of the past that I have now
and that is also unfortunately when the nightmares will
finally end." Thank you.
[...]
.06/10/2015 (C106) C11090 G R RUNDLE (Ms David)
Transcript produced by DTI
[...]
Thank you, Mr Rundle. Thank you for your attendance
at the Royal Commission.
34
[...]
.06/10/2015 (C106) C11091 G R RUNDLE (Ms David)
Transcript produced by DTI
1st October 2015 | CH9 News
An investigation into the adequacy of current treatment services for child abuse survivors has been welcomed by the organisation that supports an estimated five million Australian adults affected by childhood trauma.
On Thursday, the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse called for submissions from interested parties on current advocacy, support and therapeutic treatment services for people suffering the aftermath of abuse.
Cathy Kezelman, president of Adults Surviving Child Abuse (ASCA), told AAP the inquiry by the commission was much needed.
"There has not been a substantive piece of work that scopes what is and what isn't - and can actually back what people have been saying anecdotally," she said.
Commission CEO Philip Reed said on Thursday that through public case studies and more than 4000 private sessions, attention had been drawn to the lack of quality support services as well the difficulties survivors faced when seeking therapy.
Dr Kezelman, AM, said there was an across-the-board requirement for this investigation because of a misconception about what survivors of child sexual abuse needed.
There was an assumption they could be "fixed" in the current Medicare allowance of 10 sessions per year, she said and described this as outrageous and potentially quite damaging.
"When a child is repeatedly sexually abused in childhood, it affects their developing brain and has much more profound global effect," she said.
Therapists needed to be trained to understand the difference between this type of trauma and single-incident trauma, Dr Kezelman said.
When people are abused as children, it has an impact on a developing sense of self, and to start to repair that and help people feel safe takes a very slow-building therapeutic relationship, she said.
Earlier this year, ASCA released an economic report, The Cost of Unresolved Childhood Trauma and Abuse in Adults in Australia, which estimated unresolved trauma was costing the nation $9 billion a year.
The report, done by Pegasus Economics, was based on Bureau of Statistics data and estimated the cost to the economy based on people who had suffered childhood trauma and were not able to contribute in the workplace or pay taxes and the cost of providing revolving door crises services.
Dr Kezelman said the cost of not providing the right care and support to survivors was double the slated $4.3 billion cost of the royal commission's recommended redress scheme, which included funding for counselling and psychological care.
Once the commission receives submissions, it will publish a consultation paper.
Final recommendations on advocacy, support and therapeutic services will be contained in the royal commission's final report in 2017.
The allegations were raised at the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
