Find & Connect

Uncover your history. Trace your family. Connect with services.

Find and Connect support services have been established by the Australian Government to help people who experienced childhood abuse in an institutional setting (including out-of-home care) trace and reclaim their identities, restore relationships with their families where possible, come to terms with their past and help build a positive future.

The service is for people who as children, lived in children’s homes, institutions, orphanages and other forms of out-of-home care last century. It’s estimated around half a million children lived some or all of their childhoods this way until 1989, by which time the process of de-institutionalisation had concluded.

In 2009, then Prime Minister Australia, Kevin Rudd, formally apologised to Forgotten Australians and Former Child Migrants for the neglect and abuse many experienced during their time in ‘care’.

To improve the lives of people who experienced childhood abuse in institutions, the Australian Government invested in a national network of services. These provide tailored and flexible services that understand and respect your experiences and support your needs. The services will help you to:

obtain personal records, trace your history and understand the reason you were placed into care
reconnect with family, where possible
access professional support and counselling services
access information and referral to other services
build peer support networks.

To find out more, contact Find and Connect on 1800 16 1109 or visit the web resource at www.findandconnect.gov.au

For more information please contact Lotus Place.