JourneyOnline
UnitingCare Australia has welcomed today’s announcement by the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin, that a formal apology to Forgotten Australians will be issued by the end of this year.
UnitingCare Australia National Director, Ms Lin Hatfield Dodds, said today, “This announcement by the Minister is a very positive step. The 2004 Forgotten Australians report recommended an apology, and the Forgotten Australians themselves have been vocal about the need for action. This acknowledgement of the abuse that occurred to children in institutional care will go a long way towards helping those who have suffered to move forward with their lives.”
The 2004 Forgotten Australians report from the Senate Inquiry into Children in Institutional Care recommended that that governments, the Churches and agencies should issue formal statements acknowledging their role in past institutional care policies and practices, as well as accompanying actions to ensure that the apology is not merely an ’empty gesture’.
The then National President of the Uniting Church in Australia issued a public apology in 2004 to any who were abused in institutions of the Uniting Church and its predecessor churches. This apology was supported by the Moderators in all Synods of the Uniting Church.
UnitingCare has developed new models for providing care and services to children, and we are constantly working to improve our facilities and to provide a safe place for children in all our settings.
“As the social services arm of the Uniting Church, UnitingCare is committed to work collaboratively with the Government to enable this apology to be issued, and to ensure that the mistakes of the past are not repeated,” Ms Hatfield Dodds said.
UnitingCare Australia is an agency of the Uniting Church in Australia. It represents the Uniting Church’s network of community service providers, of which there are over 1300 service delivery sites nationwide.
Photo : Lin Hatfield Dodds. Photo by Mardi Lumsden
