April is Care Experienced History Month!

Did you know that April is International Care Experienced History Month. Care Experienced History Month was initiated in 2021 by the Scottish organisation, Who Cares Scotland, a voluntary organisation, working with care experienced young people and care leavers across Scotland. The term “Care experienced” is a term used in Scotland for people who are in or have experienced what we commonly call “out-of-home care”, these days, in Australian. This covers people who identify in Australia as Care Leavers, or Forgotten Australians. As we explain throughout the Wattle Place website, Forgotten Australians/Care Leavers, are people who spent their childhoods in orphanages, foster care, kindship care, Children’s Homes and other out-of-home care as children.

The goal is to make this a global month to acknowledge the history, experiences and significant contributions to our communities by Care Leavers. It celebrates their advocacy, activism and resilience and their stories . April 30 is International Care Experienced Day of Remembrance and will mark the end of this historic month.

While it is not yet widely marked in Australia, we hope that it will gradually become commonly acknowledged and celebrated every April.

Here are some ways you can get involved:

4 April       The National Enabling Better Aged and Community Care for Forgotten Australians Forum on 4 April is one Australian event being held as part of Care Experienced History Month. It will be held in person in Queensland but also virtually. Registration closes soon, so if you would like to attend, or to find out more, please visit Enabling Better Aged and Community Care for Forgotten Australians| Global Community Resourcing

Wattle Place is hosting a “Hub” for this event. Please contact Wattle Place on 1800 663 844 if you would like further information.

There is also an Australian Care Experienced History Month organising committee who will be hosting a number of online events:

9 April       Care Experience & Culture Book Club Event  – click here for information or to register

11 April     Breaking the Cycle of International Out of Home Care  – click here for information or to register

14 April     Intergenerational Trauma  – click here for information or to register

20 April     Writers Roundtable  – click here for information or to register

28 April    Launch of More Than Our Childhoods website. The website promotes a project called —Care Leaver Activism & Advocacy: From Deficit Models To Survivor Narratives— which takes a multi-strand approach to promoting new histories that represent the diverse ways in which Care Leavers have defied negative expectations and campaigned for recognition.- click here for information or to register

More information about all of these events is available here