Tailored Services

Forgotten Australians Support Service

A free service for people 26 or over, who were in out-of-home care in NSW. Funded by the NSW Department of Communities and Justice, and delivered by Relationships Australia NSW’s Wattle Place centre.

Enquire Online Via Wattle Place

Overview

Who It's For?

This service is for those placed in NSW out-of-home care and are now aged 26 or over. This includes those placed by the government into children’s homes, orphanages or similar institutions or foster homes before 1990 (Forgotten Australians, Stolen Generations and Former Child Migrants) as well as those in care after 1990 (broadly referred to as Care-Leavers).

How We Help

Wattle Place has staff who specialise in supporting people with childhood experiences of institutional and foster care. We understand the ongoing impacts that those experiences can continue to have throughout life. Our service is Australia-wide, if you now live interstate, we can still support you via phone and online services.

What to Expect

As well as offering a range of specialist support services, we provide acknowledgement, respect, understanding, hope and the opportunity for social connection, friendship and the feeling that you are part of a community.

Many Forgotten Australians and Care-Leavers struggle with day-to-day impacts and challenges as a result of childhood experiences.

While not all institutional or out of-home care experiences were negative, sadly a large proportion of them were incredibly traumatic, leaving many with lifelong impacts. But we’re here to help.

PTSD or flashbacks to traumatic experiences in childhood

Struggles with identity

Difficulty connecting with others

Difficulty trusting others

Fear of an unknown future

Ongoing mental health issues

We commonly help Forgotten Australians and other Care-Leavers with:

Face-to-face and telephone counselling

Limited financial support towards the costs of wellbeing services, such as medical, dental, and optical

Assistance and support to access institutional and personal records

Support with family tracing

One-off assistance with first time family reunion

Casework and advocacy

Information and referrals to other services

Social activities, special events and group workshops

Drop-in facilities

“Wattle Place provides a community of people who share the experience of being placed in institutions or foster homes as children. We know how isolating and challenging life can be when you feel like no one understands what you’ve been through or what you are going through now. Wattle Place staff do understand, they listen and work to earn our trust slowly, through compassion, honesty and reliability.”

- Wattle Place client

Fees

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Find a location near you

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Location

Distance

Filters

Bus

Parking

Language Interpreter

Train

Wheelchair Access

Centre Locations

Our services are available 6 days per week through most centres.

Wattle Place

Darug Country

67 High Street, Harris Park NSW 2150, Australia

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Centre Info

Outreach Locations

If the above locations don’t suit you, we also have the following outreach centres. However, to visit an Outreach Location you will need to make an appointment as these do not always have staff in attendance.

Enquire now

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