Apology to help healing process
Peter Begg Geelong Advertiser
A LARGE number of Geelong residents will welcome Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's apology next month to those who spent their childhood in institutions and out of home care. Federal Corio MP Richard Marles said yesterday the national apology would help the healing process for many people living in the Geelong region. Families Minister Jenny Macklin has announced the Australian Government will formally apologise at a special remembrance event in Canberra on November 16. Mr Marles said that from the 1920s to the 1970s around 500,000 children, known as the Forgotten Australians, lived in out-of-home care such as children’s homes and orphanages. “With more than half a million Forgotten Australians and former child migrants in Australia, chances are most of us know, or work with, or are related to someone who grew up in an institution or in out of home care,” Mr Marles said. “This is particularly the case in Geelong which has the highest number of orphanages outside any capital city.” Media Articles
|
