Content warning: Please be aware that the documents linked here may contain information about child sexual abuse, neglect, violence, suicide and other trauma, which may be upsetting or triggering for readers.

Required reading for professionals

For comprehensive information about Forgotten Australians it is recommended that interested persons read the 2004 Senate Committee Report entitled ‘Forgotten Australians’, and the subsequent 2009 report ‘Lost Innocents and Forgotten Australians Revisited’.

In 2016, the Alliance for Forgotten Australians (AFA) produced a booklet ‘Forgotten Australians: Supporting survivors of childhood institutional care in Australia (5th Ed)’ that is designed to inform and assist professionals and others to understand the impact of the trauma experienced by those who spent their childhood in orphanages and institutions.

Counsellors

If you are a counsellor and interested in how you may be able to help Forgotten Australians in your area, please feel free to contact us and speak with someone from our counselling team.

All counsellors providing services to Forgotten Australians through Open Place are required to have an appropriate qualification and have membership of an accredited professional association.

If you are working with someone who you know is a Forgotten Australian but has not accessed Open Place services, please encourage them to contact us and speak to the intake worker.

Find out more

Contact us if you would like to find out more about Forgotten Australians and how you or your service can better respond to the needs of Forgotten Australians. Please ask to speak with a member of our counselling team.