Children’s Homes Abuse Lawyers

As per the current regulations in Queensland (QLD) and Western Australia (WA), we are unable to display certain information about our legal services to people residing in those states. If you are located in QLD or WA, please click on this link to access information on children’s home abuse law.

The treatment of young people in children’s homes throughout Australia is a national disgrace. For over half a century, vulnerable children across the country were placed into State and religious children’s homes only to be subjected to neglect, violence and abhorrent sexual abuse.

Children were treated like a number, placed in large institutions, given a uniform and stripped of their identity. Their only crime was being born into families that could not look after them.

Some were made Wards of the State and placed in Government Homes, while others were pushed into religious institutions run by organisations such as the Catholic and Anglican Churches or the Salvation Army. Our founder and principal Peter Kelso is a former State Ward and understands the pain and suffering experienced by children who grew up in the care and welfare system, away from their families. Click here to read Peter’s story.

These children needed care, nurturing, and protection. What they got was very different. 

In children’s homes all over Australia, tens of thousands of children experienced physical and sexual abuse from the very people who were supposed to look after them. The abuse was often an open secret within the institutions; everyone knew what was happening, but nothing was done about it. 

Reports were ignored, and those in charge were either perpetrating the abuse themselves or looking the other way.

Regardless of which children’s home you were abused in, you may be entitled to compensation. 

We have pursued cases against children’s homes run by every State and Territory Government in Australia, as well as religious homes run by the Marist Brothers, Salvation Army, Salesians of Don Bosco, De La Salle Brothers, Uniting Church, Catholic Church, Anglican Church, Christian Brothers and many more. Many victims were State Wards, while others were not. 

Many survivors do not speak up for a long time. Often, they feared retribution from the offender, or else they would not be believed. Many blame themselves and live with feelings of shame and embarrassment that they should not have to carry. It is never your fault; often, the hardest step is to break the silence, reach out, find your voice and seek help.