Childhood Separation & Trauma:
The Stolen Generation Effect on Kids
Brains & Adult Outcomes
Tony Broe
& the Koori Growing Old Well Study (KGOWS) Team with
Emily Hindman, Sue Hoskins, Lea Williams, Holly Mack, Gail Daylight
Aboriginal Artist LeAnne
Hunter
Background
Aboriginal Australians - 1788 to 1960s
• From 1788 - British governors, settlers, police, soldiers - saw
Australia as territory open to take over; as ‘terra nullius’;
unoccupied. The Aboriginal people - who had successfully
managed the “Biggest Estate on Earth” for 9000+ years – were
removed from their family lands & nations by the invaders
• With loss of their land Aboriginal people lost their long term
job – their purpose-in-life, connections to culture, spirit
• Frontier wars, brutal fringe camps & ‘missions’, new diseases
(measles, flu, small pox) decimated Aboriginal numbers
• And from the early 1900s Aboriginal people had their children
removed - with the claim “Aborigines were a dying race”
Background
Aboriginal Health and Ageing – 1960s to 2014
However:
• From the 1960s - infant mortality has steadily fallen
with lots more Aboriginal kids surviving to adult life
• From the 2000s - adult life-span has been rising &
fertility is starting to fall – with smaller families
• The Australian Aboriginal population is
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Growing rapidly: with a large young population (0-24 years)
Ageing rapidly: led by the ‘young old’ – people 45-64 years
But showing high dementia rates - 3 times non-Indigenous
& Earlier onset of dementia than non-Indigenous population
What improved Aboriginal Health and Ageing?
Over the past 50 years
1.
Access to basic human rights? Citizenship ’67; Freedom
Rides 60s; Self determination ’70s; Racial Discrimination
Act 1975; Full citizenship Rights only in 1983
2.
Some Recognition of prior ownership of the Land? Land
Rights 1970s on; Redfern Speech ’92; Native Title - Mabo
’92; Wik ’96; Apology 2008 - But Racially discriminatory
Wik Amendments (UN) ’98; no Treaty or Recognition in
the Constitution are barriers to full reconciliation
3.
Improved housing health care & health services? – In
NT and Australia wide - from the ’90s (N.T. - Thomas et al
2006; AIHW)
What has not improved?
Over the past 50 years
Brain Growth opportunities? Removal of children produces a
cascade of lost opportunities from simple lack of love &
stimulus essential to grow brains; to neglect, abuse, damage
to brains; to loss of opportunity to learn to parent the next
generation – all tickets to enter the Criminal Justice System
Criminal Justice System - Aboriginal kids are 22 times more
likely to enter the CJS – another form of ‘removal’
Enhanced Early Childhood? Aboriginal kids don’t get equal
kindergarten, pre-school, & enriched early life, opportunities
Education & Employment – Pre-1960s Aboriginal schooling
was an exercise in denial & discrimination. It now just lags
behind non-Indigenous – as does Aboriginal employment
Background to Koori Growing Old Well Study
Services precede Research
• Between 2000 and 2005 at La Perouse, with Gail Daylight &
the Aboriginal Health Link Advisory Group:
• We set up - a Chronic & Complex Care Program and a Vascular
Health Program & got recurrent funding
• We re-opened the 2-room Arrunga Health Clinic; Planned &
opened in 2005 a 10-room La Perouse Aboriginal Community
Health Centre; Set up La Perouse Clinic Services in Child
Health, Mother & Baby Health, ENT, Mental Health, D&A and
Aged Care – With GP Primary Care provided by AMS Redfern.
• By 2005 We recognised that - to improve ageing across the
life course we had to tackle Child development and Child
health – and find why brains don’t grow well
Koori Growing Old Well Study 2008 - 2012
We set out to find answers to these Questions
1. Are dementia rates as high in Urban Aboriginal
people as our colleagues had found in the Remote
Kimberley (KICA) Study? - i.e., 3 x non-Indigenous?
2. We asked - Is Brain and Mind Growth - from
childhood onward an important factor in
–
–
–
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Having a healthy adult life
Escaping poverty and getting jobs
Delaying adult diseases – heart, kidney, diabetes, injury etc
Delaying memory loss and dementia
KGOWS: Build Community relationships; Engage
partners; Request access to lists; Recruit participants
Mid North Coast NSW:
• Coffs Harbour – Galambila Aboriginal Medical Service
• Kempsey - Durri Aboriginal Corporation Medical
Service and Booroongen Djugun Aged Care
• Nambucca - Daarimba Maarra Aboriginal Health Centre
Metropolitan Sydney:
• La Perouse (Randwick Botany) - Aboriginal Land Council
and Aboriginal Community Health Centre Advisory
Committee;
• Campbelltown – Tharawal Aboriginal Medical Service
KOORI GROWING OLD WELL STUDY
5 URBAN/REGIONAL STUDY SITES
58% Coffs Harbour
Nambucca
Kempsey
42%
Randwick/Botany
Campbelltown
RESULTS:
KGOWS & KICA Studies 2005 - 2012
Dementia rates are high in Aboriginal people
Dementia Prevalence by Age
RESULTS:
TYPES of DEMENTIA – Urban Aboriginal People
www.neura.edu.au/aboriginal-ageing
RESULTS:
KGOWS – Stolen Generation (n = 336)
Family Separation
N (%)
Participant Removed
33 (10%)
Relatives taken away
142 (44%)
Children taken away
5 (2%)
Siblings taken away
40 (13%)
Parents taken away
39 (12%)
www.neura.edu.au/aboriginal-ageing
Do early life experiences result in mid-life
health risks and premature brain ageing?
• What happens in
childhood grows the mind
& brain to deal with adult
life & ageing
• We believe positive child
experiences grow minds &
brains effectively for adult
life & ageing
• And negative experiences
grow brains, but in the
wrong way to deal with
adult life; to grow old well
What Grows healthy Brains & Minds?
• We – mothers, fathers, grandparents,
schools, culture, communities –
working with the genes - grow our
children’s minds & brains from
infancy to adulthood
What Grows healthy Brains & Minds?
– Consistent and good parenting – not Separated as a child
from family as happened for the Stolen Generation
– Having Parents who themselves learnt to parent and were
not brought up in institutions etc
– Low rates of childhood trauma
– Good childhood education
– Ongoing adult education
– Brain stimulating jobs
– Life-long nurturing and growth of your brain
Q: How does the Mind-Brain grow?
•
In practical terms our Minds and Brains work
together and grow - with the body - as a network
•
We fill our minds with experiences and grow our
brains to hold them as memories & guideposts
•
Mind-brain growth is a life-long process, however
the richest growth occurs during parenting and
education - with lack of trauma & stress - in
infancy and childhood and up to late adolescence
Q: How does the Mind-Brain Grow?
We grow it: mothers families schools - and our Genes
MRI Brain Scan
Normal Neonate
A thin strip of
‘thinking’ Cortex
MRI Brain Scan
Normal Adult
Masses of ‘gyri’ =
Complex Cortex
Q: When does the Mind-Brain Grow?
All our lives - but most growth in Early Years
7 years
Brain
weight
25 years
Adult years
1 year
From: Peña-Melian (2000). Human Neurodevelopment 15: 99-112.
What are the positive factors in Early Life
for mind/brain growth?
• Good Parenting/Grandparenting/Family
• Setting consistent boundaries
• Access to formal education
• Informal learning, reading, I.T.
• Supportive, secure, safe & loving family
What are the negative factors in early life
for mind/brain growth?
• Separated from family/Stolen gen/Justice System
• Lack of skills for parenting
• Giving kids inconsistent boundaries
• Discrimination
• Adverse Childhood Events/Child Trauma
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–
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Exposure to Violence towards women
Childhood Trauma, Violence & Abuse
Childhood exposure to Alcohol/Drug abuse and to Mental Illness
Childhood exposure/entry to Criminal Justice system
Q: What is the Stolen Generation effect?
•
Loss of the richest opportunities – those given by a
loving family - at the crucial time for mind/brain
growth - infancy and childhood up to adolescence
•
Loss of the opportunity to learn to be a parent and
for gaining an education - often with major physical
and emotional trauma, stress and more negative
experiences than growing up in your own family
•
Developing resilience may overcome some of these
disadvantages
Q: How can Early Life Stress affect adults?
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Child Stress & Removal cause
Anxiety & Depression
Poor Diet, Obesity
Smoking - Alcohol – Drug use
High Blood Pressure
Social isolation
Brain Injury
Family Violence & Trauma
These are Known causes of mid-life death & disability and are also
Known risk factors for later life brain decline and dementia
Q: What grows Brains & Minds
in mid-life and later life
•
•
•
•
•
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Good jobs and income
Adult education, learning, reading,
Using the Net, Wii, Google, Web, Games
Bringing them Home - programs
Social connections
Exercise, fitness, wt. loss
Low BP and cholesterol
No cigs & Moderate alcohol
Acknowledgements
• NHMRC and AHMRC
• Department of Health and Ageing
• Ageing Disability & Home Care NSW
• Our Aboriginal communities and partners (La
Perouse Land Council, Tharawal AMS, Durri AMS,
Booroongen Djugun, Galambila AMS, Daarimba
Maarra AHC, local Elders Groups and Aboriginal
Guidance Groups)
• Our Research team