The Forgotten Children,
Ten Years On

A research collaboration between The University of Sydney, The University of Queensland, and the Australian Human Rights Commission

ABOUT THE STUDY

In 2014, the Australian Human Rights Commission’s (AHRC’s) Forgotten Children report documented the devastating impacts of immigration detention on child detainees. The report generated a groundswell of community concern, contributing to the Australian government’s 2016 decision to release hundreds of minors from institutional detention.

A decade on from this landmark report, this project asks what happened to the children Australia detained?

Remarkably little is known about the long-term impacts of childhood detention. A growing body of research shows that children held in immigration detention are at dramatically elevated risk of physical and mental health problems and developmental delays. But these studies typically focus on wellbeing outcomes during detention. Internationally, very little is known about how children fare after release.

Setting the international benchmark for research in this area, the project has four main aims. It will:

Explore how child detainees’ detention experiences impact their wellbeing and life trajectories in the years after their release;
Interrogate the effects of child detainees’ post-detention experiences in shaping outcomes;
Make recommendations to improve long-term outcomes for children who have been subject to immigration detention, or who are at risk of detention in the future; and
Bring the enduring issue of childhood detention to the forefront of Australia’s national agenda, to advance long-overdue legislative reform.

Background to the Study

LEARN MORE

To learn more or to participate in the study, please click on the link below.

PARTICIPATE IN THE STUDY

THE RESEARCH TEAM

The project is a collaboration between the University of Sydney, the University of Queensland and the Australian Human Rights Commission. It is led from the Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies at the University of Sydney.

Dr Michelle Peterie | Project Lead

Senior Research Fellow in Sociology, Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies | The University of Sydney

**Professor Alex Broom**
Professor of Sociology | Director, Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies | The University of Sydney

**Professor Greg Marston**
Professor of Sociology | Director, Centre for Policy Futures | The University of Queensland

**Anne Hollonds**
National Children’s Commissioner | The Australian Human Rights Commission

**Peter Mares**
Researcher, Writer and Audio Documentary Maker | Adjunct Senior Research Fellow | Monash University

**Dr Zoe Hogan**
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies | The University of Sydney

**Dr Saba Vasefi**
Research Associate, Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies | The University of Sydney

**Dr Sarah Mares**
Consultant Child and Family Psychiatrist | Adjunct Senior Lecturer | The University of New South Wales

**Dr Susan Nicholson**
Director, Children’s Rights | The Australian Human Rights Commission

**Dr Stephanie Raymond**
Manager, Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies | The University of Sydney

THE EXPERT ADVISORY BOARD

Critical to the project is an Expert Advisory Board comprised of people with lived experience of childhood detention, third-sector representatives, and international scholars. We deeply appreciate the Advisory Board’s partnership in this work, and their vital contributions steering the research.

**Zaki Haidari**
Refugee Rights Campaigner | Amnesty International | Expert by Experience

**Dr Graham Thom**
Advocacy Coordinator | Refugee Council of Australia

**Sarah Dale**
Director and Principal Solicitor | Refugee Advice and Casework Service (RACS)

**Professor Mary Bosworth**
Professor of Criminology | The University of Oxford

**Associate Professor Caitlin Patler**
Associate Professor of Public Policy | The University of California, Berkeley

**Professor Alison Phipps**
UNESCO Chair on Refugee Integration through Education, Language, and Arts | The University of Glasgow

**Professor Amy Conley Wright**
Professor of Child and Family Social Work | The University of Sydney

FUNDING ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This study is funded by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project grant. The ARC an independent body that funds research in Australia. The ARC’s purpose is to "grow knowledge and innovation for the benefit of the Australian community through funding the highest quality research, assessing the quality, engagement and impact of research, and providing advice on research matters".

Additional funding has been provided by The University of Sydney, through the Robinson Fellowship scheme.

We gratefully acknowledge this support.