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.