AFA – ‘Alliance for Forgotten Australians’ PAST How it was…. PRESENT How it is now… FUTURE How it should be….

PAST A snapshot of the early life experiences of two Forgotten Australians who grew up in NSW state & church run institutions Caroline Carroll – AFA Chairman 15 years in care Pamella Vernon – AFA NSW Representative 14 years in care

‘Leading the way for those children who follow in our paths’ Ensuring Advocacy for those children who follow Ensuring Guardianship for those children who follow – no more lost opportunities Persistent challenge for leadership amongst Governments – Federal and State also Churches to meet their obligations and responsibilities.

Learning from the past Respect the rights of family members and children Question 1 Is this still happening today? Questions 2 What are you doing to prevent this from continuing to happen?

Ensuring families have support to care for their children For many the system is not working We still have children dying in care We still have children homeless We still have separation from family and culture We still have poor educational outcomes Are you doing enough to maintain positive relationships within families?

Zig Ziggler said… We need to BE, before we can DO,and we need to DO, before we can HAVE.. Forgotten Australians needed to BE that voice, before we could DO, and we need to DO and achieve outcomes, before we can HAVE the recognition we deserve Who is responsible for Nobody’s Child?

Nelson Mandela Said Any nation that does not care and protect all of it’s children, does not deserve to be called a nation. We do not want to be back here in 10 – 20 years time asking these same questions.