Apology anniversary a time to reflect

16 November each year marks the anniversary of the National Apology to Forgotten Australians.

In 2009, Mr Kevin Rudd, former Prime Minister of Australia, formally gave an apology to the thousands of people, known as Forgotten Australians, who spent their childhoods in orphanages and other out-of-home ‘care’ in Australia. Many of these children experienced significant physical and emotional trauma as a result of being placed in institutional care as children and now, as an older group, are experiencing barriers to accessing aged care as a result.

The Real Care the Second Time Around Project, funded by the Commonwealth Government, commenced in 2019. This important project has been developed with Forgotten Australians by Helping Hand, in partnership with Relationships Australia South Australia and Flinders University. The project is working towards improving the access to quality aged care services for Forgotten Australians.

Over the past three years, our project has created significant national awareness of Forgotten Australians and the barriers they face, and has developed an excellent learning program with many resources that are freely available for all to access. To find out more, visit the Forgotten Australians webpage.

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