Bringing-Them-Home-Report-Web

15 Evaluating Government Responses… there needs to be a focused response to the needs of families and communities affected by pastpolicies beyond those provided to individuals who access their own records (VictorianGovernment interim submission page 4).Governments have been slow to respond to the effects of forcible removal onIndigenous people. The first responses were made by Indigenous individuals themselveswho made efforts to locate and reunite their families. These efforts began for some fromthe very moment of separation.During the 1980s Indigenous organisations were formed to assist in tracing familymembers and to provide counselling and support. In 1980 Coral Edwards and Peter Readestablished Link-Up (NSW). Similar services now exist in other States and in theNorthern Territory and have attracted government funding.Indigenous family reunion workers brought to light the need for forcibly removedchildren and their families to have ready access to the records kept by government andnon-government agencies involved in their removal or subsequent placement. Otherrecords, for example genealogies collated by anthropologists and family history cardscompiled by missionaries or government agents, are also needed to assist in identifyingfamily and community ties. Most governments but few churches have recognisedIndigenous people’s need for information from their records to allow tracing of familyand proof of identity.Reunion can be a part of healing for the individuals, families and communitiesaffected by forcible removal. However the damage to well-being and emotional healthhas typically and quite predictably been severe. Yet the need for healing strategiesfocused specifically on those affected by forcible removal has only very recently beenacknowledged by governments and funding is still scarce. Fortunately again someIndigenous people and services have recognised this need and begun to address it.While governments began responding to some of the effects of forcible removalduring the 1980s, it was the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custodywhich articulated an obligation on all governments to address these effectscomprehensively. The Royal Commission found that 43 of the 99 people whose deaths incustody were investigated had been separated from their families in childhood. Allgovernments support the relevant recommendations of the Royal Commission and havecommitted themselves to implementation.EvaluationThe Inquiry’s second term of reference requires an examination of existing servicesand procedures available to those affected by the forcible removals. We have taken this tomean those services and procedures specifically for those affected and specificallyaddressing the effects. A literal interpretation of term of reference (b) would require the