Bringing-Them-Home-Report-Web

may be that its members and agencies, to the extent that they were involved, acted as part ofalready existing networks of welfare arrangements.It may be that many of those involved believed that they were acting in the best interests ofthe children concerned. It may also be that many of them did not understand the fullimplications of their actions, performing only the tasks immediately in front of them. TheSRC does not wish to impute any particular motives to those involved. It simply states thatno amount of explanation can detract from the now observable consequences of thosemisguided policies and practices. A great wrong has been done to the indigenous people ofAustralia. It is for participation in that wrong that this apology is offered (Anglican ChurchSocial Responsibilities Commission submission 525 pages 3-4).The National Assembly of the Uniting Church passed the following resolution inSeptember 1996.… that Standing Committee, on behalf of the Uniting Church in Australia, acknowledge tothe Aboriginal community:• the trauma and on-going harm caused to individuals, families, the Aboriginalcommunity as a whole and the entire Australian community by the practice of separatingAboriginal children from their parents and raising them in institutions, foster homes oradoptive homes;• that the church thought it was acting in a loving way by providing them with homes,but was blind to the racist assumptions that underlay the policy and practice;• the fact that these assumptions, spoken and unspoken conveyed destructive, negativemessages to the children about Aboriginal culture and their Aboriginality;• that fact that although it was the intention and policy of the church to providechildren who had been separated from their parents with a loving, secure environment inwhich they were encouraged to develop their gifts and graces, and although faithful womenand men who worked in the institutions often provided such an atmosphere, there were alsotimes when the reality contradicted the intention and goal, and where children even metviolence and abuse at the hands of some of the very staff whom they should have been able totrust;• that there were many good, faithful and self-sacrificing houseparents, foster parentsand adoptive parents who provided loving homes for the children in their care, andencouraged their self-esteem, their growth, their pride in Aboriginal culture and theirachievement; many of the people who grew up in the institutions have continued a closerelationship with former house parents until the present time (second submission 457).The Federal Aborigines Board of the Churches of Christ, the Anglican ChurchDiocese of Perth and the Baptist Church of WA acknowledged their complicity as didthe Catholic Social Welfare Commission (submission 479 page 2).Churches of Christ recognize and acknowledge the pain suffered by the children and parentswho experienced separation. We recognise our complicity in a system which we understoodat the time to be beneficial but now is seen to have been destructive. To the degree which wewere a part of the destruction processes we seek forgiveness and offer our repentance. Wealso acknowledge that we sought to do what was most appropriate and for some theexperience was positive and for such people we affirm the outcome (Churches of ChristFederal Aborigines Board submission 411 page 8).