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Victoria - Organisation

The Who Am I? Project (2008 - 2012)

  • Frank and Samantha talk about their experiences in locating and accessing their records

    Frank and Samantha talk about their experiences in locating and accessing their records, 2012, courtesy of Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare.
    Details

From
June 2008
To
2012
Categories
Project
Alternative Names
  • Who Am I? The Archive as Central to Quality Practice for Current and Past Care Leavers (Forgotten Australians) [LP0883232] (Also known as)
Website
https://web.archive.org/web/20140404201321/http://www.cfecfw.asn.au/know/research/sector-research-partnership/partnership-projects/out-home-care/who-am-i

The Who Am I? project was an Australian Research Council funded project. The grant for the project was awarded in June 2008. This research project investigated the role played by archiving and recordkeeping practices in the construction of identity for people who experienced out of home 'care' as children (including members of the Stolen Generations and Forgotten Australians).

Details

One outcome of the Who Am I? Project was a web resource called Pathways. Pathways was revised and extended to become Find & Connect Victoria, and was also used as the model for building Find & Connect pages for each Australian State and Territory.

The Who Am I? project was conducted by researchers from the University of Melbourne (Cathy Humphreys, Gavan McCarthy, Cate O'Neill, Rachel Tropea, Margaret Kertesz and Andy May) and the Australian Catholic University (Shurlee Swain and Nell Musgrove), in partnership with 15 organisations, and in consultation with consumer support and advocacy groups.

The Partner Organisations were: The Salvation Army, Wesley Mission Victoria, Anglicare Victoria, Berry Street, Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare, Child and Family Services Ballarat, Department of Human Services Victoria, Glastonbury Child and Family Services, Good Shepherd Youth and Family Services, Kildonan UnitingCare, MacKillop Family Services, Orana Family Services, St Luke's Anglicare, Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency Co-operative Limited (VACCA), Victorian Adoption Network for Information and Self Help (VANISH).

The aims of the Who Am I? Project were inspired by the recommendations from the 'Forgotten Australians' report (2004), particularly those relating to records, recognition through memorials and exhibitions, and research. The interdisciplinary research team explored these issues using tools from the fields of social work, history and archival studies.

The Who Am I? Project adopted an action research methodology based on the Knowledge Diamond. The Knowledge Diamond, devised by Cathy Humphreys, emphasises the importance of the exchange of ideas between key stakeholder perspectives: Research Evidence, Service User/Consumer Experience, Policy Perspectives and Practitioner Wisdom.

Pathways, the web resource output of the project, used the Online Heritage Resource Manager (OHRM). The OHRM is a data management system developed by staff at the University of Melbourne eScholarship Research Centre.

Related Organisations

Publications

Conference Papers

  • Humphreys, Cathy and Kertesz, Margaret, 'Who am I? The role of record keeping in supporting identity for looked after young people', in The Annual Congress of the British Association for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, Belfast, April, 2012. Details
  • Jones, Michael and McCarthy, Gavan, 'The Pathways Project: Underpinning Principles', in Find and Connect Seminar Series - Sharing and Reflecting on the Australian Experience of Supporting Care Leavers Access Records, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, 2 July 2012, 2012. Details
  • Musgrove, Nell, 'History and Healing: The Challenges of Writing a History of Children in Out-of-Home-'Care'', June 2011. Details
  • O'Neill, Cate, 'The Pathways Website: A Digital History Response to "Forgotten Australians'', July 2010. Details
  • O'Neill, Cate, 'Pathways to forgotten identities: the e-humanities and the 'Who Am I?' project', in Faculty of Arts eResearch Forum, 6 December 2010, University of Melbourne, 2010. Details
  • Swain, Shurlee, 'We are the stories we tell about ourselves: History and the construction of identity amongst Australians who, as children, experienced out-of-home 'care'', April 2010, pp. 1-9. Details
  • Swain, Shurlee, 'The Politics of Apology: An Australian Genealogy', June 2011. Details

Journal Articles

  • Humphreys, Cathy and Kertesz, Margaret, 'Personal identity records to support young people in care', Adoption and Fostering, vol. 36, no. 1, 2012, pp. 27-39. Details
  • Humphreys, Cathy and Kertesz, Margaret, 'Personal identity records to support young people in care (Italian Translation)', Lavoro Sociale, Lavoro Sociale, 2012. Details
  • Humphreys, Cathy and Kertesz, Margaret, ''Putting the heart back into the record': personal records to support young people in care', Adoption and Fostering, vol. 36, no. 1, 2012, pp. 27-39. Details
  • Humphreys, Cathy and Kertesz, Margaret, 'Making Records Meaningful: Creating an Identity Resource for Young People in Care', Australian Social Work, vol. 68, 2015, pp. 497-514. Details
  • Kertesz, Margaret and Humphreys, Cathy, 'Reformulating Current Record Keeping Practices in out-of-home care: recognising the centrality of the archive', Archives & Manuscripts, vol. 40, 2012, pp. 42-53. Details
  • McCarthy, Gavan and Evans, Joanne, 'Principles for archival information services in the public domain', Archives and Manuscripts, vol. 40, no. 1, 2012, pp. 54-67. Details
  • McCarthy, Gavan; Swain, Shurlee and O'Neill, Cate, 'Archives, identity and survivors of out-of-home care [Editorial]', Archives and Manuscripts, vol. 40, no. 1, 2012, pp. 1-3. Details
  • O'Neill, Cate; Selakovic, V; and Tropea, Rachel, 'Access to records for people who were in out-of-home care: moving beyond 'third dimension' archival practice.', Archives and Manuscripts, vol. 40, no. 1, 2012, pp. 29-41. Details
  • Sköld, J., Foberg, E., & Hedström, J., 'Conflicting or complementing narratives? Interviewees' stories compared to their documentary records in the Swedish Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse and Neglect in Institutions and Foster Homes', Archives and Manuscripts, vol. 40, no. 1, 2012, pp. 15-28. Details
  • Swain, Shurlee and Musgrove, Nell, ''We are the stories we tell about ourselves: child welfare records and the construction of identity among Australians who, as children, experienced out-of-home 'care'', Archives and Manuscripts, vol. 40, no. 1, 2012, pp. 4-14. Details
  • Swain, Shurlee; Sheedy, L., and O'Neill, Cate, 'Responding to "Forgotten Australians": historians and the legacy of out-of-home "care"', Journal of Australian Studies, vol. 36, no. 1, 2012, pp. 17-28. Details

Reports

Resources

  • Who Am I Project Team, Pathways Victoria, eScholarship Research Centre, The University of Melbourne, Parkville Campus, 2010. Details

Online Resources

Photos

Opening presentation by Vladimir Selakovic, Care Leavers of Australia Network (CLAN)
Title
Opening presentation by Vladimir Selakovic, Care Leavers of Australia Network (CLAN)
Type
Document
Date
15 April 2010

Details

Frank and Samantha talk about their experiences in locating and accessing their records
Title
Frank and Samantha talk about their experiences in locating and accessing their records
Type
Video
Date
2012
Source
Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare

Details

Sources used to compile this entry: Who Am I? Project Team, 'Who Am I?', in Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare website, Department of Social Work, The University of Melbourne, Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare Inc., 2012, https://web.archive.org/web/20140404201321/http://www.cfecfw.asn.au/know/research/sector-research-partnership/partnership-projects/out-home-care/who-am-I.

Prepared by: Cate O'Neill and Nell Musgrove