New faces on the FACT Board

Forgotten Australians Coming Together Inc (FACT) is the governing body of Tuart Place.

The FACT Board is comprised of people with lived experience of out-of-home care, (including the Chair and ViceChairperson), and other professional members elected for their expertise and qualifications in areas such as law, accounting, service management and governance.

Tuart Place is a leader in co-production of support services for Australian care leavers, with more than half its Board of Governance comprised of care leavers, and peer leadership playing a pivotal role in service design. Co-production with care leavers includes delivering and designing services in the areas of community education, social connection and peer mentoring, which operate successfully alongside highly professional and trauma-informed clinical services - resulting in an optimal model of service delivery.

All clinical and professional services at Tuart Place are managed by the Director, Dr Philippa White, and her staff. Strict privacy protocols exist whereby no Board member has access to any confidential client information. All Boards benefit from renewal of membership, and 2019 has Chairperson Cevrina Reed Treasurer Ross Stagno

seen several changes in the FACT Board.

We said farewell and thank you to our outgoing Chairperson Ron Love, who volunteered many years of dedicated service to the Board, and won the ConnectGroups inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award in October 2018. Thank you also to longstanding Board members Maria Harries and Lee Peters, for their major contributions to Tuart Place.

Eddie Cogan, another founding member of the FACT Board, sadly passed away in August 2018. A gentle and compassionate man. We miss him dearly.

Stepping into the role of Chairperson in 2019 is Cevrina Reed, with Dale Lynch in the role of ViceChair.

Congratulations to both and thank you for your outstanding contributions to FACT.

In recent months we have also welcomed three professional members to the Board: executive career coach Lyn Sherwood; chartered accountant Ross Stagno (Board Treasurer); and lawyer Chris Williams. They join existing Board members Kevin Collins, Lyn McLaughlin, Ann McVeigh, and Dr Katrina Stratton.

What a great team! Executive career coach Lyn Sherwood Solicitor Chris Williams

more incredibly, Elsie’s son Douglas – Dale’s first cousin – also lives in Busselton and was already known to Dale, with Doug’s wife Margaret being the Treasurer of the Busselton Collectors Club, of which Dale is Secretary. Dale writes: “I was amazed when Julie told me Douglas was son and my first cousin. Wow! I had known this forsix years and neitherofus knew we were related! next morning, I contacted Doug and Margaret and explainedthe storyto them. Like me theywere astounded news. “Thatafternoon, Doug andMargarettookme up meet my 97-year-old aunt Elsie, who lives in an aged home. I hadbutterflies in my belly andexcitementin heart! “My Aunty Elsie is an absolutely gorgeous lady, extremely spritely forsomeone of97. Unfortunately, has some dementia, although still has amazing patches of clarity. I have been to see her another four since andshe looks forwardto my visits as much as forward to seeing her”. Dale with his cousin Douglas, Doug’s wife Margaret, and Auntie Elsie. Notice the strong family resemblance between Dale and Doug.

Tuart Place was pleased to welcome members of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) team who travelled to Australia in September 2018 to meet with former child migrants from Scotland.

Over a 2-week period, two teams of Inquiry staff met with witnesses to take statements at Tuart Place and other locations around Australia.

For the witnesses, it was traumatic to recount their experiences of childhood abuse and neglect, however the SCAI team were extremely compassionate and professional, and all witnesses said they felt well supported during the process. We’d like to thank team members (L-R) Andrea, Lydia, Jennifer, Jacqui, John and Duncan (not in photo), for their great work. We look forward to seeing you again in March 2019, on your second trip to meet with former child migrants in Australia. To find out more about the Inquiry, visit https://www.childabuseinquiry.scot/

Yvonne speaks with Scottish Inquiry

After meeting with Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) team members in a private session in 2018, Scottish former child migrant Yvonne Radzevicius (nee O’Donnell) gave evidence to a public hearing of the Inquiry by video-link from Tuart Place in January this year.

Appearing before Inquiry Chair the Rt Hon, Lady Smith, Yvonne spoke of her experiences at Nazareth House in Cardonald, Glasgow, where she lived from 9 months to 10 years old, before being sent to Australia in 1953 and placed at Nazareth House in Geraldton.

Yvonne suffered different

forms of abuse and neglect in both institutions, but said it was the emotional abuse and lack of love that had the most lasting and detrimental effects on her life.

After giving evidence to the Inquiry, Yvonne told her story to Australian international and media, and waived her right to anonymity to urge other survivors to get in touch with the Scottish Inquiry.

Inquiry Chair Lady Smith has also appealed for survivors living in Australia to come forward. To contact the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry email talktous@childabuseinquiry.scot or call Tuart Place.

Ian Donaldson - Scotty - a former child migrant from Scotland, met with membrs of one of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) teams in a private session at Tuart Place in September 2018.

Scotty said that although it was difficult talking about the past, he had really enjoyed meeting the SCAI team, and that they were very friendly and professional.

Future Pathways: Help is available

Future Pathways offers help and support to people who were abused or neglected as children while they were living in care in Scotland, including people were sent from Scotland to Australia under the assisted child migration schemes, or who moved away from Scotland as adults.

‘In care’ means living in residential or foster care, living in a boarding school (state, private or independent), having a long-term stay in hospital or spending time in a juvenile detention centre.

We work with survivors to help them access support that will improve their lives. Support is personalised and examples include access to education, community activities, counselling, records, and one-off items needed for a better quality of life.

We are already working with people in Australia (and elsewhere in the world) and manage the time zone differences by conducting support at the beginning or end of the UK day (currently Perth is +8 hours ahead, and will be +7 hours ahead when Daylight Saving commences in Scotland on 31 March 2019). You can find out more about our work in general at www.futurepathways.co.uk

Referral forms for Future Pathways are available from Tuart Place.

Scottish Government offers apology and financial redress

We’ve seen a lot of redress done badly, so it’s heartening to see that the Scots seem to be getting it right.

In October 2018, the Scottish Government offered an “unreserved and heartfelt apology to everyone who suffered abuse in care in Scotland”.

The Scottish apology, and a financial redress scheme, have been announced ahead of any recommendations from the current Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI), with advance payment to be made available as soon as possible to people who are elderly or in ill health.

The Scottish Inquiry is not solely focussed on sexual abuse, rather it is investigating all types of abuse, including systemic abuses and neglect.

Additionally, a support service, Future Pathways, has been made available to Scottish survivors (including child migrants), offering a range of tangible and useful options – such as funding for health and wellbeing activities and the purchase of one-off items to help achieve a better quality of life.

Well done Scotland! It seems there’s a lot we can learn from your approach.

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Talking with student social workers about care leaver issues

Care leaver representatives from Tuart Place have been giving presentations to student social workers for a number of years, and continued the tradition in 2018.

Care leavers are over-represented in the communities with which social workers engage, and an awareness of the issues affecting care leavers is an important part of social work education.

In October last year Ron Love, Cevrina Reed and Sylvia Stonehouse shared their stories with another class of final year Master of Social Work students at UWA, identifying key issues affecting many older care leavers. Tuart Place Social Worker Jan Newman gave the introduction to the presentation and talked about the kind of work carried out at Tuart Place.

Once again, the presentation by care leavers was a huge success, with great engagement by the students, who asked lots of questions.

Student social worker Lok Yiu Lee (known as Yoyo), who has now graduated, was so impressed she approached Tuart Place after the presentation and has been volunteering with us ever since. You can see Yoyo on the far right in our photo. Hi Yoyo!

Ian Donaldson: A kindness returned

Tuart Place regular Ian Donaldson is famous for his handcrafted windmills and has donated many of them as gifts and raffle prizes. Ian’s windmills are very popular, and always sell a lot of raffle tickets!

In February 2019, Ian presented a windmill (painted in Dockers colours) to the Mayor of Fremantle, Dr Brad Pettitt.

Delighted to accept this special gift on behalf of the City of Fremantle, Dr Pettitt and his fellow Councillors later made a surprise donation of $200 to Tuart Place.

Your kindness is much appreciated. Yours too Ian.