Today I spoke to the Forde Foundation in
Queensland. This foundation is part of the Department of Communities. A part of the department set aside for the forgotten Australian's who were brought up in care in Queensland's notorious
children's homes. Awful places where children were treated more like animals and not children. I spent many years in care. I spent my entire teen years in care. This was hell. I hated it so much and I was so lonely and this is where I developed a lot of the present fears I am still saddled with today.
It took a little while to find my way around through the bureaucracy of it all and it wasn't easy not being able to call out of this area on my home telephone. With the help of Campbell from Andrew Fraser's office in
Coffs Harbour.
He did some checking up and I rang the number I was given. A very cheery lass called Nicky answered and she was helpful but she had to tell me that the time for compensation was over. However the foundation has many other ways in which it can help me out. There are grants for study and for health and various other needs. They have added my name to the mailing list and I won't be forgotten in the future.
I felt very sad this afternoon. I never felt so resentful of a bunch of people than I did of my brothers and sisters this afternoon. They took it upon themselves to leave me out and to not tell me anything about this process while they all took advantage of this accept for one of my brother's. My brother Zane wanted no part of this. He isn't off the hook completely as he or his partner Jacqui could have contacted me and told me about this so as to at least give me the opportunity for myself. It was obvious that the government had unleashed this clumsy band aid upon the unsuspecting target group, so unsuspecting that someone like me would miss an opportunity to address the
Queensland parliament or to have my story heard and to have received compensation for the pain and suffering that has been on going in my life to date .
The kind of pain and suffering that is not visible to most other than the blank stares I may have at times or the inability to know what to do in certain situations, most don't know because they don't see me. They don't know about the nightmares or the fears or the feelings of running or hiding.
I hope when the Forde Foundation send this initial package that there are some contacts where I can access some help in being able to communicate with my children again in a safe place. My two older children just think I am mad and don't understand the capacity of which I was physically and emotionally abused.
The ladies on the phone were very understandable about my situation. They were more helpful when I told them that I had my Certificate IV
Community Services Welfare. I said that I felt I was qualified in this area, they both understood when I said that now I am well over qualified to work in this field and they agreed. Not in a helping capacity, but I would be very helpful in a clerical role in the same field.
I want to have an opportunity of having a real go at life. Being with John for so many years was hard as he ate up our opportunity years with useless gambling. His drinking was an issue but I didn't eat the money the way gambling did. After all there is only so much he could drink before he was useless to the world. I resent this happening and I have to some how heal these resentments.
The best way to heal resentments is to overcome them with an even bigger success. That would be novel.
http://www.searchquotes.com/quotes/author/Mother_Teresa/
Image by Mezza - Plants on the bank at dawn in Urunga