Study Suggests That Australian Children In Pre-1990s Care Suffered Lifelong Disadvantage

Australian children in pre-1990s suffered lifelong disadvantage. A study reveals that abuse and the distressing participation that seems to be taking place in Australia's Institutional Care System have been a cause of lasting abnormalities in Australian Children.

These abnormalities included isolation, unstable mental health and physical disadvantages to boot. The study that was done by the University of New South Wales focused on the practice of children that went through foster care during the time period between 1930 and 1989 which included the children of migrants, minorities as well as some unremembered ones.

About 700 people were said to have played a part in the study and 96.7% were shocked when they came to know about the kind of pain these children had to go through while being in foster care. Their sufferings came in many shapes which included sexual abuse, humiliation, bullying and emotional breakdowns.

They also noticed the low amount of clothing and food that they were provided with and according to numbers 41% had to go make do with such inhuman acts in one form or another and detailed studies have shown how these abuses turned out to cause permanent damage in later life.

According to The Guardian, many of them had to face mental health issues which were quite frequent, and others went on to face chronic illness, disability, relationship settlements, homelessness, unemployment, and low income.

Professor Elizabeth Fernandez who was leading the study said that the crucial time that these children had to face had a major impact on their life afterward especially the sexual abuse they were traumatized by.

Financial crises, as well as relationship problems where most of them failed to set up their home and family and an average of 15%, were left unable to face the outside world, outside the boundaries of the foster care.

This study proved how one way or another the horrific and unimaginable acts that were being carried out inside the institution had a diverse effect on the children's life afterward as the majority had to face failures and setbacks throughout their life.