MAKE RECORDS RIGHT In her Keynote address at the 2017 ‘Setting the Record Straight’ Workshop in Fremantle, Child Protection Minister Simone McGurk MLA identified systemic difficulties in access to out-of-home care records, and pointed out that – at the very least – recordkeeping practices should cause no further harm. At a meeting in July 2018, Minister McGurk applauded the strong work of CREATE WA in this area, and said: “Young people who went through foster care have a very reasonable request - they want better access to their records. Navigating that process is sometimes difficult, so CREATE have developed a flow-chart tool to help young people (and staff) find information like why they went into care and their family history”. CREATE’s Access to Information flow-chart provides a road map for people seeking access to case files and records held by the Department of Communities. Our photo shows Minister McGurk in a light-hearted moment with CREATE Young Consultants Lily and Andre as they present the flowchart. Care leaver organisations across Australia continue to press for improvements in care leavers’ access to records – from both government and non-government systems. As the major support service for older care leavers
Moments not lost in time..... Some of our readers will remember CREATE Young Consultants Lily and Andre from their presentation at last year’s WA State Records Workshop for the ‘Setting the Record Straight for the Rights of the Child’ initiative, where they spoke about difficulties facing young care leavers seeking access to records. In September this year, Tuart Place Director Dr Pip White will join Lily and Andre and Community Facilitator Elly Jones on a discussion panel for ‘Moments not lost in time: The role of recordkeeping in making institutions child(hood) safe’, at the 2018 Australian Society of Archivists (ASA) National Conference in Perth on 25 September 2018. The Panel will be chaired and facilitated by Dr Leisa Gibbons, Lecturer in the Department of Information Studies at Curtin University, and will include Catharin Cassarchis, State Archivist and Executive Director of the State Records Office WA; and Associate Professor Joanne Evans, ARC Future Fellow with the Faculty of Information Technology at Monash University. Joanne is Convenor of the ‘Setting the Record Straight’ initiative, and co-hosted the WA workshop last year. Key questions the Panel will consider are: What work is being done; and what still needs to be done for various organisations to implement recordkeeping principles outlined by the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse? 6
in WA, Tuart Place stands up for the ‘Forgotten Australians’, former child migrants, and Stolen Generations; while CREATE WA advocates for children in care and young care leavers (up to the age of 26). Tuart Place is seeking feedback from the recordkeeping community, care leavers, and others with an interest in improving recordkeeping practices and access to out-ofhome care records. This feedback will be reported at the ASA Conference on 25 September 2018. If you would like your input to be included in a summary of recent developments in the recordkeeping sector, contact Program Coordinator Jo Hocking before 15 September 2018, at programs@tuartplace.org
September 2017: At the WA State Workshop for ‘Setting the Record Straight for the Rights of the Child’ (L-R): Workshop Co-convenor Dr Joanne Evans (ARC Future Fellow at Monash University), Dr Philippa White (Director, Tuart Place), Elly Jones (CREATE Community Facilitator), Lily (Young Consultant), Jim Morrison (Executive Director, Bringing Them Home WA) and Marlene Jackamarra (Stolen Generations survivor and advocate)
