Twenty years on from the Bringing them Home Report and justice for those whose inalienable human rights were so grossly abused remains unachieved.
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The report of the National Inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, tabled in Federal Parliament on May 26, 1997, made 54 recommendations, most of which have not been implemented at all, while others are only partially in effect.
CEO of Kinchela Boys' Home Aboriginal Corporation Tiffany McComsey says the report gave a strong wholistic framework to address the needs at the time, but there is now additional needs because of an ageing population and intergenerational trauma.
"Some people are still having difficulties trying to access their records," Dr McComsey said. "In NSW that's improved because of their family records unit.
"One of the recommendations was for a national compensation scheme that was never implemented.
"The NSW State Government at the end of last year put forward a reparations' response and monetary compensation was part of that, but that is only for living survivors.
"A big part of the Bringing them home report that has not been addressed is the recommendations relating to out-of-home care.
"With the high rates of Aboriginal children going into the out-of-home care system, the connections in some cases with those individuals who are survivors of the stolen generation and their families highlights that the early intervention work around those specific family experiences are not being developed in a way that actually understands the experiences.
"The impact of which is leading to removals' effects."
‘Stolen’ children can suffer from low self-esteem, internal guilt, loneliness, loss of identity, legal problems, violent tendencies, mistrusting others, religious confusion, depression, substance and alcohol abuse, and difficulties parenting and managing relationships.The legacies of trauma, suffering and erosion of cultural links have also been transferred to the next generation.
"The Bringing them Home Report provided reparations because of the human rights abuses that took place for those survivors," she said.
"Not having the monetary compensation acknowledged undermines that framework and you have stolen generation survivors, who, if you looked across the Aboriginal population, those survivors have worse social and economic outcomes than the rest of the Aboriginal population.
"So that compensation is vital to improve their quality of life.
"No money is ever going to restore what was taken from them, but this does help, especially in this later part of their lives."
