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Bringing Them Home

Information and links relating to Australian Government responses to the 'Bringing them home' report of the 1997 National inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families.

Social and Emotional Wellbeing program

In 2011, the Australian Government announced the Social and Emotional Wellbeing program which consolidates existing counselling, family tracing and reunion support into a flexible package of service delivery supplemented by national coordination and support.

The objective of the program is to enhance existing service delivery to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, prioritising members of the Stolen Generations, through more flexible models of service delivery and increased capacity to meet demand for services. The program delivers:

• counselling, family tracing and reunion services to members of the Stolen Generations, through the existing network of Link Up services across Australia
• social and emotional wellbeing services, particularly counselling services, to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, through existing mental health and counselling staff based in over 90 Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations across Australia
• support for the National Sorry Day Committee and National Stolen Generations Alliance
• workforce support and training and
• national coordination support to services and staff.

History

"Indigenous children have been forcibly separated from their families and communities since the very first days of European occupation of Australia"
(Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Bringing them home, 1997, page 22).

In May 1995, the National inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families was conducted in response to efforts by key Aboriginal agencies and communities to increase public attention to this issue. The report of the inquiry, Bringing them home, was tabled in parliament on 26 May 1997. Further information about the Bringing them home report is available on the Australian Human Rights Commission website.

The Australian Government funded services to support the social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in response to the 1997 Bringing Them Home report. This included funding provided for the Bringing Them Home Counsellors and Link Up services.

In March 2006, Urbis Keys Young, an independent social research firm, was commissioned by the Department of Health and Ageing to evaluate the Bringing Them Home and Indigenous Mental Health programs. The Evaluation of the Bringing Them Home and Indigenous Mental Health programs was launched in May 2007.