Image: Staff and boys outside the main dormitory at Tally Ho Boys' Training Farm, 1908. Courtesy Uniting Heritage Service, Victoria.

This self-directed online toolkit is designed to support anyone holding the records of out-of-home care in understanding the needs of people who grew up in out-of-home care in a safe and empathetic way.

The course will cover:

• topics about the historical background of out-of-home care in Australia, and why records are so important in this context;
• the findings of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse relating to records
• the importance of contextual records; and
• providing access to records of out-of-home care.

The course includes exclusive video content, interactive quiz elements and a custom certificate delivered on completion.

By the end of this course you will be able to:

• Understand the history of child welfare in Australia and why this history is still important today
• Articulate why records are important for people who grew up in out-of-home care
• Explain the recordkeeping-related findings and recommendations of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, and recognise what these recommendations mean for your organisation
• Acknowledge the importance of a variety of records to people who grew up in out-of-home care, including photographs and contextual records
• Understand the issues around providing access to records of out-of-home care, including why topics like articulated in these and know when they are useful to use
• Describe the Access to Records Principles and Best Practice Guidelines, identify the key issues articulated in these and know when they are useful to use
• Demonstrate the importance of providing compassionate, maximum access to the records you hold

NOTE: This course includes exclusive video content and interactive quiz elements. A custom certificate will be delivered upon completion. Estimated length to complete this course may take between 3-4 hours.

This toolkit was developed for the Australian Society of Archivists by Kirsten Wright and Nicola Laurent, with assistance from Dr Cate O'Neill, University of Melbourne. It was supported by the Council of Australasian Archives and Records Authorities (CAARA).