- Jessie is a survivor of institutional child sexual abuse. She applied for redress through the National Redress Scheme with the help of a Redress Support Service. My name's Jessie. I'm a Forgotten Australian, so I'm one of the over 500,000 Australians who grew up in government or church care, so foster care, youth justice systems, all sorts of institutional care. And like many other Forgotten Australians, I suffered abuse in care. I went on to become a journalist, researching gender socialisation and won the Auscare Media Award for Radio Journalism. Following the apology to Forgotten Australians by the Australian government for the abuse we suffered while in care, a number of services were set up throughout Australia to give support to Forgotten Australians. Here in Queensland, it's Lotus Place, so there's a number of Lotus Places here in Queensland. I've been lucky enough to be involved with the Brisbane one, and they put on an information day that I attended with some of my family and friends, and that was very informative. I particularly liked the fact that if you were given redress, it wasn't taxable, so there seemed to be very few downsides apart from the fact that you'd have to dig deep into your past and your history. I thought about applying, but I wasn't sure if it was the right thing for me, because I knew in my heart that nothing would take away the pain. Nothing would repair the damage that had been done. But also, I was so sick of being called a liar. I was so sick of being told that it was me, that I was broken, and I thought I'm just going to apply. And I was lucky enough to get Jane as my redress worker, and Jane is just magic. The woman is an angel. The application process was actually quite daunting. They want you to go into details. It's all predicated on you having been sexually abused. You have to give them as much evidence as possible, so I had to dig into my Children's Services files. It brought up a lot of the pain from the past. For me, getting that acknowledgement was what it was about. It was having someone in authority, concrete evidence that someone in authority believed me and finally said I wasn't a liar. Acknowledged that it happened. The money helped, of course, and I was able to pay off my home, but the money is not the point. The point is, at last, somebody is taking responsibility. Someone is saying sorry and you're being acknowledged. If you're thinking about applying to the National Redress Scheme, I would say remember that it's not easy. It's not going to solve the problem and nothing is going to take away the pain and the damage. However, it gives you a voice. Make sure you have a great deal of support, someone who is there and watches your back and holds your hand. And don't do it alone. It is worth it. To find out more or connect with Redress Support Services, call 1800-737-377 Monday to Friday 8:00am to 5:00pm or visit nationalredress.gov.au.