Bringing-Them-Home-Report-Web

• consultation regarding record access protocols.Clearly then, full implementation of the Royal Commission’s Recommendation 52requires a significant increase in funding, a fair distribution of Commonwealth fundingacross all jurisdictions to eliminate discrimination based on State or Territory ofresidence and an acceptance of a funding obligation by all States.Evaluation – Inquiry criteriaSelf-determinationAll governments, by supporting Royal Commission Recommendation 52, haverecognised the importance of self-determination in the provision of reunion assistance.Funding of family tracing and reunion services through ATSIC has the potential topromote self-determination. Therefore the Inquiry is concerned that ATSIC support forreunion assistance is not provided in WA, SA or the ACT where there is a demonstratedyet unmet need. Indeed with no independent family reunion service in SA at all, theremust be a question mark over that State Government’s commitment to self-determination.Non-discriminationIn recent years most Australian governments have recognised the need for intensivesupport and counselling for all parties to an adoption when an adopted child and birthparent(s) decide to meet. Considerable care and resources have been devoted tosupporting ‘adoption reunions’. Some Indigenous families are able to benefit from theseservices where they are able to satisfy the criterion of having been adopted or havingrelinquished a child, although the adoption services employ no Indigenous staff.However, many cannot satisfy that criterion. Adoption information and counsellingservices in Tasmania and Victoria are available to some other Indigenous familiesaffected by removals. However comparison of the resources devoted to assist adoptionreunions and those devoted to Indigenous family reunions indicates that, although thedepth of emotional turmoil is typically far greater for Indigenous families, State andTerritory governments have not committed anything approaching the resources perreunion to Indigenous family reunions as to adoption reunions. In other words veryserious discrimination occurs with State government resources favouring predominantlynon-Indigenous adoptees over Indigenous children removed under now-discredited Statelaws.Cultural renewalSeparated children were not removed only from their families. They were alsoremoved from their communities and land, cultures and heritage. For many peoplereunion is not accomplished until they have been reunited with their entire Indigenousheritage. The first step is usually to find one’s family records. The second is to meet andrebuild one’s family if possible. As the Inquiry was told, family reunion work should notstop there. The introduction of the client to his or her community, cultural heritage andcountry may also need to be mediated and supported.