Author, Researcher, Historian
The Australian National Museum’s exhibition, Inside: Life in Children’s Homes & Institutions, has now ended its national tour of capital cities (it had time in Canberra, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane – but not Sydney, Adelaide or Darwin). From the website comes this WARNING: This website contains confronting and disturbing content, and names and images of […]
The UN convention on children’s rights (CRC) – now 25 years old – sets global standards for children’s education, health care, social services, penal laws, and protection from economic and sexual exploitation, violence and other forms of abuse and neglect and establishes the right of children to have a say in decisions that affect […]
NEW: 31 January 2015 The child welfare system in many first-world nations is stuffed: that’s the verdict of many of its sternest critics. Forget about tinkering around the edges of the system, they say. It would be far better to start again from scratch. In Australia, life in residential ‘care’ remains as degrading and brutish as […]
UPDATE 30 January 2015 Confusion Reigns: who will do the honours for Sir Phil? Apparently, Tony hasn’t yet told the Queen whether she can dub her hubby personally, or Tony will do it, or it can be a Selfie. A spokesman at Buckingham Palace says: “The Queen acts on the advice of the Australian government […]
UPDATE: Further allegations of unethical actions by insurance companies in regard to child sexual abuse were aired by the BBC on 24 February 2015. More details here. What is the role of insurance companies in dealing with allegations of sexual assault of children? Is it right and proper that they be involved at all? […]
We all have lists of things we wish should never happen. Abbott Coalition’s attacks on living standards in Australia include: 1. The worst budget in living memory with no sense of fair play or regard to pre-election promises. It cruelly attacked the poor while granting bonuses to the wealthy – creating outrage in the community. And the government […]
The UK is miles ahead of Australia when it comes to supporting Care Leavers to study at universities and other institutions for post-secondary schooling. What’s more, the UK is making a determined effort to increase the number of Care Leavers entering and staying in education after the age of 16. We all know the close correlation between a […]
Professor Shurlee Swain’s third paper for the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is a fascinating survey of previous royal commissions and other official inquiries in Australia. “The History of Australian inquiries reviewing institutions providing care for children” (2014) identifies 83 Australian inquiries. Download the paper here. The first, a NSW Select Committee on Destitute […]
This is the 2nd of Prof Shurlee Swain’s three research papers for the Royal Commission It can be downloaded here This will prove to be the most fascinating of the Swain papers for those who are new to this area. It explains the many different types of institutions offering out-of-home ‘care’ for children in Australia from […]
The History of Child Protection Legislation in Australia Shurlee Swain’s first paper for the Royal Commission (I’m not sure the three papers are meant to be read in any set order) surveys the legislation relating to the out-of-home care of children. The paper can be downloaded here. Reminding us that child welfare in Australia was […]