The Find & Connect web resource aims to assist people who were in care in Australia between 1920 and 1989 access records about themselves, as well as some information about the institutions that held children in out of home care.
We aim to collaborate with people who experienced care in creating and providing this information, and to centre their voices wherever possible. We also rely on historical documents, which reflect the values of the day.
We recognise that the forced removal of Aboriginal children from their family and culture, racist policies and procedures that governed their lives, and the ongoing impacts of colonisation must be acknowledged in content relating to them.
Whilst it is important to provide context of institutional care in Australia, we recognise that that context can be offensive, racist and traumatic.
In order to ensure the site is safe for people who experienced trauma in care, we have developed policies that provide guidelines on the use of historical documents, language, ideologies and images.
Image Policy
This policy sets out the protocols for selecting and describing photographs, and also for responding to feedback about photographs after they have been uploaded to the website.
Read it here: Image Policy
Language Policy: The Words We Use
Noting that our primary audience is people who were in ‘care’, their families and support services, the decision has been made to not always adhere to archival principles and instead rename material, recognising the distress and offence this language causes.
Read it here: Language Policy
Privacy Policy
The personal information we collect will be used to compile statistics that will guide our evaluation of service quality and improvement. For example, the web team will compile statistics about how many emails are received each month. The use of these statistics will not disclose any personal information collected by the web team at Find & Connect.
Read it here: Privacy Policy
Stolen Generations Survivors Style Guide
The Stolen Generations Survivors Style Guide for Descriptive Practice seeks to address areas of descriptive practice to support better access for Stolen Generations Survivors to the Find and Connect web resource. It provides principles and practices for describing records and institutions on the Find and Connect web resource in ways that respect and accurately represent First Nations peoples, histories, and experiences.
Download it here: Stolen Generations Survivors Style Guide for Descriptive Practice (pdf)