State Wards Claims
OVERVIEW
Waller Legal has extensive experience in representing former State Wards in seeking compensation and justice.
Many former State Wards experienced abuse and ill treatment during their time in care.
If you were a State Ward then the Government was your legal guardian and was responsible for making sure you were properly cared for. The relevant Department went by many names including the Children’s Welfare Department, the Social Welfare Department and the Department of Community Welfare Services and the Department of Health and Humans Services. In Victoria, it is now known as the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH).
We have assisted many clients to pursue claims against the State of Victoria and receive compensation. Sometimes the Department placed wards in homes and orphanages run by other organisations. We seek compensation from those other organisations too, such as the Christian Brothers, who ran St Augustine’s Boys Home in Geelong and St Vincent’s Boys Home in South Melbourne.
We have successfully resolved many claims against the State, and other religious and non-government organisations, through a negotiated process. Where negotiation does not deliver an appropriate result, we have also litigated cases against the State of Victoria.
In August 2015, Waller Legal represented two former State Wards who appeared as survivor-witnesses in the Child Abuse Royal Commission public hearing into State Run Youth Training and Reception Centres. This hearing examined the experiences of former child residents at Turana Youth Training Centre, Winlaton Youth Training Centre and Baltara Reception Centre between the 1960s and early 1990s.
Waller Legal currently represents a large number of former State Wards in compensation claims in relation to abuse they experienced in these institutions.
We also act for large numbers of men who were sexually abused in children's homes run by the Christian Brothers – St Augustine's in Geelong and St Vincent's in South Melbourne, in particular.
Waller Legal has experience representing former State Wards in relation to sexual abuse. We have acted for care leavers from many institutions, including:
- Abbotsford Convent
- Allambie
- Anglicare
- Ballarat Orphanage / Ballarat Children’s Home
- Baltara Reception Centre
- Bayswater Boys’ Home
- Bendigo Training Centre
- Box Hill Boys’ Home
- Brophy Memorial Hostel
- Burwood Boys’ Home
- Glastonbury Orphanage
- Good Shepherds Sisters Convent
- Kardinia Children’s Home
- Kent Town
- Kildonan
- Lyndon Lodge
- Malmsbury Youth Training Centre
- Menzies Home for Children
- Morning Star Boys’ Home
- Nazareth Boys’ Home
- Nazareth House
- Orana, the Peace Memorial Homes for Children
- Royal Park Depot
- Sandhurst Boys’ Home
- St Aiden’s Orphanage
- St Augustine’s Orphanage
- St Catherine’s Children’s Home / St Catherine’s Orphanage
- St John’s Home for Boys and Girls
- St Vincent de Paul Girls Orphanage
- St Vincent de Paul Black Rock
- St Vincent’s South Melbourne
- Tally Ho
- Turana Youth Training Centre
- Winlaton Youth Training Centre
If you wish to investigate a potential civil claim against the State Government, please call us on 03 9415 9999 to have a confidential discussion about your options.