Forgotten Australians and Care Leavers refers to the 500,000 children that were placed into institutional and out-of-home care in Australia in the last century. Of this group, 7,000 were former child migrants, 50,000 were indigenous children from the Stolen Generations and over 440,000 were non-indigenous children. We respect that not everyone will identify with the terminology ‘Forgotten Australians’.

Forgotten Australians and Care Leavers often face barriers to accessing aged care and are recognised as a special needs group under the Aged Care Act 1997. The idea of requiring care as they age can be deeply retraumatising as their experiences as children in care were often traumatic.

Over the past several years, Helping Hand Aged Care has developed training and resources relating to care of Forgotten Australians and Care Leavers as part of the Real Care the Second Time Around (RCSTA) project.

With the Strengthened Standards and new legislative requirements to provide trauma aware, healing informed aged care, this work is more important than ever. We are proud to have worked alongside people who identify as Forgotten Australians or Care Leavers to co-design the training and resources delivered as part of the project and are very thankful for the assistance of those with lived experience.

The RCSTA resources and training were designed to support aged care providers to provide trauma aware services for Care Leavers, and to give Care Leavers practical information about the questions they can ask and what to expect in aged care. The resources and training are free and are available at the links below and will assist any provider wishing to apply for specialisation under the Verification Framework.

Webinar: Trauma aware, healing informed aged care for Forgotten Australians and Care Leavers

Aged care, health and allied health professionals are invited to attend a free webinar where we will share our learnings from the RCSTA project including the benefits for Forgotten Australians and Care Leavers as they access aged care services, the positive impact people working in aged care reported from increasing their skill set to include knowledge about trauma aware care, and the training and resources available. The webinar will take place on 15 November 2024 at 11.00am-12.00pm ACDT.

At the webinar we will hear from an Aged Care Provider who will share a case study demonstrating the value of trauma aware service provision in the aged care context. Jan – a Forgotten Australian – will also talk to us about what it means to her for aged care providers to be able to speak to her comfortably about her being a Forgotten Australian. Her life experience has had a profound impact and strongly influences how she would like aged care conversations and intake processes to be approached. For instance, feeling believed is crucial, building trust takes time and care must be personalised.

This webinar will benefit leaders, educators, quality managers, and senior clinicians in aged care seeking further insight into the delivery of trauma aware services.

Further resources

Two e-learning programs, developed in collaboration with The Australian Institute of Social Relations, Relationships Australia South Australia, and Elm Place, provide an introduction to understanding the impacts of childhood trauma for people now entering aged care, and insights for aged care workers on having sensitive intake conversations with older people from a background of trauma. These can be accessed here. There are also several publications that can be downloaded from the same page, that give insight and assistance to working with Forgotten Australians and Care Leavers.

UnitingCare Australia has released a Statement of Commitment to Trauma Informed Aged Care: Forgotten Australians and Care Leavers.

UnitingCare Australia is the national body for the Uniting Church’s community services Network and an agency of the Assembly of the Uniting Church in Australia. The UnitingCare Network is the largest not-for-profit aged care provider nationally supporting over 97,000 older people through residential and home care services.

UnitingCare Australia recognises that the Uniting Church in Australia and its predecessor Churches operated a number of institutions, group homes and missions across the country for those who were in out of home care and therefore played a role in the harm that was experienced by Forgotten Australians and Care Leavers when they were in care as children. Children were not always cared for as they should have been and many experienced physical and sexual abuse, neglect, harsh physical punishments, rigid rules, cruelty and humiliation. They did not always receive good medical and dental care, nutrition, education, nurturing and support. This was wrong.

UnitingCare Australia draws on the invaluable work led by Helping Hand’s Positioning Statement – co-designed with Forgotten Australians – to affirm its commitment to increasing its capacity and capability in providing trauma informed aged care for Forgotten Australians and Care Leavers.

Read the full Statement on the UnitingCare Australia website.

You’re invited to attend a free webinar: Forgotten Australians and Care Leavers as a special needs group under the Aged Care Act 1997

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