Background

Acknowledgement of Country

The Healing Foundation acknowledges Country, Custodians and Community of the lands on which we live and work. We also pay our respects to Elders and to Stolen Generations survivors, of the Dreaming and of the here and now. We recognise the ongoing nature of trauma experiences for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and commit each day to survivor-led intergenerational healing.

Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should be aware that this website may contain images, voices and names of people who have passed away.

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Bringing them home

The landmark Bringing them home report was released in 1997. It documented, for the first time, the experiences of the Stolen Generations and the ongoing impact in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

Bringing them home

Bringing them home: report of the national inquiry into the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families (1997) was the outcome of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families.

Conducted by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission (now the Australian Human Rights Commission), it was the first government inquiry that documented the experiences of Stolen Generations survivors and the impacts of their forced removals. 

For Stolen Generations survivors and their families, the role of truth-telling was one of the most important outcomes of the inquiry. Bringing them home continues to play a significant role in raising national awareness of this aspect of Australian history, and ongoing calls for recognition, justice, and reconciliation.

Key findings of Bringing them home

The inquiry found that:

  • between one in three and one in 10 Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families and communities between 1910 and 1970
  • forcible removal was an act of genocide, and 
  • the treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was a breach of Australian legal standards and represented ‘a gross violation of human rights’.

The report also showed the direct connection between being forcibly removed from family, community, culture and Country to so many areas that are the focus of the Closing the Gap targets today. 

Stolen Generations survivors are ageing....many are now dying. Most have specific and complex ageing needs resulting from our devastating experiences. We’re more likely to fare worse than other older Indigenous people on a range of outcomes. We are a gap within the gap. Yet we still await justice. We still await healing. And we still await culturally safe care, particularly for our elderly survivors who deserve to live out their days with dignity yet face an aged care system that re-traumatises us.

- Aunty Yvonne Mills, Stolen Generations survivor and member of The Healing Foundation’s Stolen Generations Reference Group speaking at the National Apology Anniversary breakast 2025 on Ngunnawal/Ngambri Country.

Recommendations to support Stolen Generations survivors

The Bringing them home report made 83 comprehensive recommendations to support survivors and their families. These included a national apology, reparations, improved services, principles to govern a new framework and national minimum standards, and a process for monitoring the implementation of its recommendations.

It provided a basis for genuine reconciliation, and for addressing issues of identity, trust and the experience of racism that continue to strongly affect the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia today.

The report made recommendations for addressing the needs of Stolen Generations survivors and their families, as well as other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people regarding language, culture and history, mental health, the contemporary removal of children, and self-determination. It charted a way forward based on justice, on the healing of past hurts, and of breaking the cycle of intergenerational trauma. 

Bringing them home 20 years on: an action plan for healing

Visit the Australian Human Rights Commission for Bringing them home information including the full report, survivor stories, an interactive map and teaching resources.

The unfinished business of Bringing them home 

A 2025 report from The Healing Foundation found only 6 percent of the Bringing them home report recommendations have been fully implemented nearly 30 years after they were made.

The title of the report — Are You Waiting For Us To Die?  — reflects the repeated calls of Stolen Generations survivors who are seeing their brothers and sisters pass away, and the urgency of the changes needed to support them as they age. 

To enable remaining survivors to live out their days with dignity, priority actions include fair redress for all survivors, access to the records that hold survivors’ stories, and trauma informed health and aged care.  

In this latest report, we make 19 recommendations as part of a national healing package for Stolen Generations survivors across these areas:

  • reparations
  • rehabilitation and research
  • records
  • family tracing and reunions
  • acknowledgements and apologies
  • education and training,
  • monitoring and accountability.

Read the full Are You Waiting For Us To Die? Report

Priority needs of survivors today

The trauma and grief inflicted on Stolen Generations survivors has caused deep and often lifelong impacts. Survivors face poorer health, economic and social outcomes than other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of a similar age.

Most survivors are now aged 50 or above and eligible for aged care; many are elderly and in pain but unable to afford the treatment they need. 

Many survivors avoid accessing important services as they fear this will trigger childhood trauma. 

The unique and complex care and ageing needs of survivors requires urgent attention from governments, policymakers and services.   

National healing package: the actions needed to support survivors

With the majority of Aboriginal families affected by the Stolen Generations in some way, supporting survivors, their families and communities to address trauma and continue to heal is critical to closing the gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous Australians.

The Healing Foundation calls on all Australian governments to lead a comprehensive national healing package for Stolen Generations that delivers:

  • culturally safe and trauma informed aged care and health services for survivors
  • fair redress for all survivors, including introducing a scheme in Queensland and addressing equity and access issues in other state and territory schemes
  • priority access for survivors to their own family records so they can know their history and make connections
  • ongoing support for Stolen Generations organisations who work tirelessly to provide culturally appropriate, trauma informed services to survivors on the ground. Read the National Healing Package Budget Submission.

Supporting Stolen Generation survivors as a key part of Closing the Gap  

The Healing Foundation is a member of the Coalition of Peaks, a national representative body of more than 80 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled peak organisations and members. The Coalition works as a formal partner with Australian governments to implement the 2020 National Agreement on Closing the Gap.

There is an urgent need to realise the Bringing them home recommendations within the broader Closing the Gap framework and reforms aimed at reducing the inequality faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.  

The 2025 Closing the Gap Independent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Led Review conducted by the Jumbunna Institute recommended stronger recognition and visibility for Stolen Generations survivors as part of the National Agreement’s goals. 

Useful resources  

Here are some resources that might be helpful:

 

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Acknowledgement of Country

The Healing Foundation acknowledges Country, Custodians and Community of the lands on which we live and work. We also pay our respects to Elders and to Stolen Generations survivors, of the Dreaming and of the here and now. We recognise the ongoing nature of trauma experiences for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and commit each day to survivor-led intergenerational healing.