Trauma of Australia’s Indigenous ‘Stolen Generations’ is still affecting children today

Indigenous children in Australia who live in families that experienced forced separations in much of the twentieth century are more likely than other Indigenous children to have poor health and negative school experiences, according to a landmark government report released this month.

As many as one in three Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were taken from their families and communities between 1910 and the 1970s, under racist government policies that tried to force Aboriginal people to assimilate with white Australians. The children were brought up in institutions or foster homes, or were adopted by white families. The Australian government formally apologized to members of these ‘Stolen Generations’ in 2008.

More >> Trauma of Australia’s Indigenous ‘Stolen Generations’ is still affecting children today

Trauma of Australia’s Indigenous ‘Stolen Generations’ is still affecting children today

Indigenous children in Australia who live in families that experienced forced separations in much of the twentieth century are more likely than other Indigenous children to have poor health and negative school experiences, according to a landmark government report released this month.

As many as one in three Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were taken from their families and communities between 1910 and the 1970s, under racist government policies that tried to force Aboriginal people to assimilate with white Australians. The children were brought up in institutions or foster homes, or were adopted by white families. The Australian government formally apologized to members of these ‘Stolen Generations’ in 2008.

More >> Trauma of Australia’s Indigenous ‘Stolen Generations’ is still affecting children today

Yes, we are the Stolen Generations

Aaron Smale gives his personal account of being removed from his mother, and the legacy of loss and harm that reverberates through the generations

More >> Yes, we are the Stolen Generations

Adoption without parental consent legalised in NSW

New laws enabling the adoption of thousands of children from the state’s foster care system without parental consent were passed in the New South Wales parliament on Thursday night, despite fierce opposition from community organisations to the “regressive” changes they say will have a heavy impact on Aboriginal families.

More >> Adoption without parental consent legalised in NSW

Protesters say NSW adoption laws will create another 'stolen generation'

Opponents of the NSW government's planned changes to adoption laws are holding a snap protest outside state parliament ahead of an expected vote.

More >> Protesters say NSW adoption laws will create another 'stolen generation'

Protest expected over NSW adoption changes

Hundreds of people are expected to protest outside NSW parliament over planned changes to the state's adoption laws.

The Berejiklian government is proposing to streamline the process of granting the guardianship of children or adopting them out.

More >> Protest expected over NSW adoption changes

‘Troubling and regressive’: Indigenous peak bodies condemn changes to NSW Adoption Act

In a deeply troubling and regressive move, the NSW government will this week consider legislation that would allow for the forced adoption of Aboriginal children.

The proposed amendment to the Adoption Act 2000 would remove the requirement for consent of a child’s parent/s to adoption where applications are made by the child’s guardian.


More >> ‘Troubling and regressive’: Indigenous peak bodies condemn changes to NSW Adoption Act

NSW Groups Fear Second Stolen Generation Over Adoption Reforms

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal and community groups fear a bill reforming child protection and adoption laws in New South Wales will sever Indigenous children's connection to culture, and result in a second stolen generation.

More >> NSW Groups Fear Second Stolen Generation Over Adoption Reforms

Fears of ‘another stolen generation’ after New South Wales' move on foster care

The New South Wales government has quietly tabled a piece of legislation that, if passed, will have a lasting impact on the lives of thousands of children taken into state care every year.

The government says the bill, which was tabled on Tuesday night, will ensure a permanent home for every child within two years, so they are not bounced around the out-of-home-care system for years on end. But critics say NSW is “walking open-eyed towards another stolen generation”.

More >> Fears of ‘another stolen generation’ after New South Wales' move on foster care

Indigenous children in care doubled since stolen generations apology

The number of Indigenous children in out-of-home care has doubled in the decade since the 2008 apology to the stolen generations, according to figures released by the Productivity Commission.

More >> Indigenous children in care doubled since stolen generations apology

Australia's stolen generations: a legacy of intergenerational pain and broken bonds

When the Bringing Them Home report was released on 26 May 1997 Florence Onus was too busy to read the news. While Australians attempted to reconcile the truth of the assimilationist policies that had sought to destroy Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture by forcibly removing generations of children from their parents, she was dealing with its direct effects.


More >> Australia's stolen generations: a legacy of intergenerational pain and broken bonds

Second wave of stolen generations in WA

In Ann Oakley’s family, child removal runs four generations deep. Like her mother and grandmother, Oakley, 52, was taken away as a small child and placed in state care.

More >> Second wave of stolen generations in WA

A Wiradjuri grandmother’s sad story: ‘The Stolen Generations have never stopped’

Laura Lyons is a 48-year-old Wiradjuri woman living in Sydney. She alleges that three of her children as well as four of her grandchildren have been stolen from her by the Australian government. Laura is a member of Grandmothers Against Removal (GMAR), a group of grandmothers who are fighting to get their stolen children and grandchildren back. This is Laura’s story in her own words as told to Camille Nakhid.


More >> A Wiradjuri grandmother’s sad story: ‘The Stolen Generations have never stopped’

Stolen Generations' Sandra Bolt explains the pain endured by five generations of her family

Stolen Generations' Sandra Bolt explains the pain endured by five generations of her family

Cabbage Tree Island is a large, flat, teardrop of sugar cane land on a reach of the Richmond River on the New South Wales far north coast.

Removed for being Aboriginal. Is the NT creating another stolen generation?

Removed for being Aboriginal. Is the NT creating another stolen generation?

There was a case in the Northern Territory recently in which a Warlpiri woman had two grandchildren removed from her care. In my experience, it was a fairly typical case. She was living in Alice Springs, looking after two of her grandchildren, one of whom had lost both parents to tragic early death. There were allegations that the grandmother was neglecting the children and they were removed from the local school without her knowledge or consent. “Neglect” is the most common reason for removal of Aboriginal children.

We risk an indigenous lost generation

We risk an indigenous lost generation

THE number of indigenous children removed from their parents has risen from 4146 children in 2000-01 to almost 14,000 children in 2012-13. The proportion of the indigenous child population in state care has tripled from 2 to 6 per cent. Indigenous-specific child protection policies are intended to prevent past mistakes associated with the Stolen Generations. The Aboriginal Child Placement Principle means the preferred option is to place indigenous children into kinship care with relatives or local community members.

• Indigenous kinship care risks creating ‘lost generation’

A new indigenous Stolen Generation

A new indigenous Stolen Generation

At this moment, there are 14,000 Aboriginal babies and children in foster care, out-of-home care, or residential care. The attempted annihilation of the First Peoples continues.

Australia – 14,000 stolen children – today

Australia – 14,000 stolen children – today

Former Government worker for the NSW Department of Families and Communities, Debra Swan on National Sorry Day joined one of the 15 protests happening across the continent to not only remember the Stolen Generations but to point out that they are continuing. In NSW, one in 9 Aboriginal children is ripped from their families into “out of home care”.

Australian Child Protection Accused of Repeating Sins of ‘Stolen Generations’

Australian Child Protection Accused of Repeating Sins of ‘Stolen Generations’

While social services deny targeting Aboriginal families, the statistics of children in out-of-home care paint a disturbing picture

WA Supreme Court dismisses Stolen Generation compensation claim launched by Collard family

WA Supreme Court dismisses Stolen Generation compensation claim launched by Collard family

A West Australian family that took the State Government to court in a Stolen Generations test case has lost its bid for compensation.