Survivors of abuse in Australian children's homes and orphanages have called for a new national strategy to secure the release of their own historic personal records held by churches and charities.
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As the landmark royal commission into institutional child sexual abuse prepares to hand its report to the federal government by Christmas, a national summit has discussed how to give a voice to adults whose lives have been impacted by failings of record keeping and archiving systems in institutions around the country.
Care Leavers Australasia Network chief executive Leonie Sheedy said many survivors, including those who have given evidence to the royal commission process, have spent years trying to track down records about their time in institutional care.
Even current record keeping processes could be important in instances of historic abuse.
"In many cases, records are the only link to family members such as mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers, and the only way many people can find out where they came from, why they were placed in Care and how to trace other family members," Ms Sheedy said.
"We know of many heartbreaking cases where organisations have repeatedly denied or delayed access to records only to have care leavers given copied, not original, records of heavily redacted information.
"Records are also essential to submit a claim for Redress and this makes us suspicious about the many institutions who redact information in the records they do provide."
The Melbourne summit discussing personal records came as Tuesday's federal budget included an initial $33.4 million to establish a 10-year national redress and compensation scheme for victims of child sexual abuse.
A key recommendation of the royal commission, the scheme was announced last year and is expected to to start in 2018.
The federal government faces a challenge in convincing states including South Australia and Tasmania to sign up to a national body, which will offer survivors of child sexual abuse in Commonwealth institutions compensation of up to $150,000 as well as psychological counselling and in some cases direct personal acknowledgement of the abuse from the institution involved.
Social Services Minister Christian Porter and Attorney-General George Brandis will discuss the plan with state and territory attorneys-general at a meeting later this month, with the Catholic Church so far the only major religious organisation to indicate its support.
The initial funding will meet the scheme's establishment costs and legal and community support services, while a dedicated information helpline and website available to survivors from March 2018.
Ms Sheedy said institutions receiving government funding should be required to hand over records to adults who were once in their care.
The royal commission, established by former prime minister Julia Gillard in November 2012, is due to deliver its final report by December 15.
