‘A long time coming’: Victoria announces redress scheme for children abused in institutional care

‘A long time coming’: Victoria announces redress scheme for children abused in institutional care

10/12/2022

Vulnerable children who were abused after being placed in institutional care will now be compensated for their trauma after the Victorian government announced a long-awaited redress scheme on Wednesday.

Premier Daniel Andrews announced the government would also deliver a formal apology to Victorians who were placed in orphanages, children’s homes and missions and experienced physical, psychological and emotional abuse or neglect.

“This has been a long time coming,” the premier said.

“Victorians who were subject to horrific abuse as vulnerable children have waited long enough for the respect and recognition of a redress scheme that has left them behind. Today, that changes.

“To these brave victim-survivors – we see you. We hear you. And we apologise for the profound trauma you have carried for too long.”

The redress scheme will cover historical abuse cases from 1928 until 1990, during which 90,000 Victorian children were placed in care.

The state government has announced a redress scheme for Victorians abused in institutional care.Credit:iStock

The government said it would invest $2.9 million to design the scheme, with urgent payments of up to $10,000 for care leavers in exceptional circumstances available.

It will build on the national redress scheme available to abuse survivors, which was created after the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sex Abuse.

Wednesday’s announcement followed a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into forced adoption in the state last year.

In 2006, when he was premier, Steve Bracks apologised to Victorians who’d been placed in out-of-home care, while a national apology recognised victims of institutional child sexual abuse in 2018.

Andrews will deliver the apology – which the government says will bring together the previous two statements – next year, if re-elected. But he said the redress scheme was a commitment of the present government, not a promise contingent on the result of the poll.

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