The purpose of the grants is to improve access to records for people who spent time in institutional care between 1920 and 1989, through documenting the records so those searching for them can be informed if the records are available, and they can be provided in a timely way.
Information about records that have been documented as a result of the grants round are included on the Find & Connect website to assist Care Leavers in finding out what records exist and where they can be found.
To be eligible, organisations must be not-for-profit and hold records about Forgotten Australians, Stolen Generations and/or Former Child Migrants. Eligible organisations can also auspice projects that will make records held by organisations such as libraries made available to Care Leavers.
Previous RAD rounds
The Find & Connect web resource has previously administered three rounds of Records Access Documentation grants.
These grants saw new files being made available to Care Leavers, significant decreases in the time taken to provide records after they are requested, and record-holding organisations making improvements in providing supported access to records.
The first round ran in 2012-13 and 30 organisations were funded.
The second round ran in 2016-17 and 17 organisations were funded.
The third round ran in 2018-19 and 15 organisations were funded.