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Addressing Intergenerational Trauma

Proposal Summary

Strengthening the child and family sector and workforce capability to address intergenerational trauma in order to reduce sexual and family violence & neglect in children & families.

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I have lived experiences of intergenerational patterns of sexual abuse, family violence, and emotional neglect as a child and as an adult.

Myself and my family have transgenerational patterns of disconnection from family.

 My paternal grandfather was disconnected from his mother ( my great grandnmother) due to my great grandfather commiting family violence to my great grandmother and my grandfather. Due to the social policies at the time the children were chattels and belonged to their father. So my grandfather remained with his father. My great grandfather died when my grandfather was 5 years old. I do not know what happened to him when his father died. However he joined the Army in 1914 when he was 14 years old.   He had a daughter out of wedlock and she was adopted out. My grandfather died by suicide aged 53 years. With all of his experineces including WW1 & WW11, I imagine he had  complex post traumatic stress disorder. My grandfather was alleged to have committed extreme violence to my grandmother and sexually harmed his children. And there were subsequent harmful sexual behaviours between the children. My father and his siblings.

These experiences deeply affected my father, who these days would be a RSO given his predatory behaviour towards young women. I was sexually abused by my father. My mother did not or could not believe. I stopped the behaviour by partnering with a young man. This resulted in an uplanned pregnancy and my son was adopted.

 I do not feel angry with my grandfather but rather sadness for my grandfather's violent behaviour and the sexual abuse of his children, in the context of his lived experiences.

 I also do not feel angry with my father given his lived experiences and the context of when he grew up. I also feel sad for his lived experiences and I know that he had tried to be a good & kind human being. He was not a violent man.

My maternal grandmother was removed at birth from her mother and placed with a family whose child died at birth.

My maternal grandfather's siblings were given to the Catholic Church as my great maternal grandmother was a single mother and my grandfather and his siblings were illegitimate. My grandfather remained with his mother.

The family violence I experienced as an adult adversely impacted my children  resulting in one of my children  having significant struggles. She had a child quite young that she struggled to care for and  I became a kinship carer of my grandson. My daughter continues to struggle.

I worked in Child Protection for 14.5 years and my story is not unique. I was just lucky enough to like school and encouraged to continue with higher education. And to have had many psotive experiences in my life.

 I have had the great privilege to study social work and  Family Therapy.  During my studies I developed a deeper understanding of transgenerational trauma and the impact on relationships, parenting styles, communication patterns and how our body holds the trauma.

I believe that strengthening tthe workforce to practice both relationally and individually will enrich their knowledge and skills, provide a holistic response to families affected by sexual abuse, family violence and harmful sexual behaiours. They will have the confidence to encourage and support families to make meaning of their story and connect to the stories of their ancestors.

I note that the Safe and Supported National Framework for protecting Australia's children 2012- 2031 is also striving to reduce the intergenerational impact of childhood abuse and neglect on children. 

I would also say that there needs to be more support for adult survivorsr both male and female to address the impact of intergenerational trauma on them. eg perpetrating family violence and sexual harm and being emotionally abusive and neglectful to their children.