Stolen Generation Assimilation

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How were the lives and experiences of the Stolen Generations affected by the policy of Assimilation? The lives and experiences of the Stolen Generations were greatly affected due to the policy of Assimilation. The Policy of Assimilation was the act of forcing Australian and Torres Strait Islander people to conform to the practises and ideals of white society and, although it was not officially adopted as a policy until 1951, the ideas behind it were being implemented well before then. From the time period of 1945 onwards, the policy has had various social effects on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, causing trauma on the individuals that were taken due to the neglect and physiological, physical and sexual abuse. Although the policy …show more content…

Within the institutions, children were only provided with basic shelter, food and clothing, living in grossly overcrowded rooms where there was little or no provision for privacy or recreation. Because of the change in lifestyle many children were exposed to new diseases, and despite the mission founders publically stating that medical and emotional support would be provided, many children’s need for support was neglected. Children were given harsh beatings for minor misdemeanours, and there are thousands of reports of abuse. Almost a quarter of witnesses in the Bringing them Home Inquiry who were fostered or adopted reported being physically abused, and one in five reported being sexually abused. Within institutions, one in six children reported physical abuse, with a further one in ten reporting sexual abuse. Children also carry emotional pain, as within institutions they were neglected, receiving minimal, if any affection. In a Bringing Them home submission, it is described how a woman “didn’t know how to hug her babies, and had to be shown how to do that,” most likely because she never was shown affection herself as a child. Moreover, because children were taught to reject their culture, and were banned from speaking their traditional language, many felt as though they did not belong anywhere, as they were “Too black to be white. Too white to be black. Caught in the middle, Belonging no

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