Redress for Historical Institutional Abuse

On this page

Who can apply
Share your information
What is included in Redress
Contact

Applications opened on 10 December 2024 and are expected to be open for 18 months. Redress will be managed by the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing. 

If you apply and are found eligible, you will be offered: 

• a payment of up to $20,000
• a personal acknowledgement or apology
• up to 20 counselling sessions.

If you are eligible for Redress, you can choose any or all these options. 

Go to Redress payment below for information about prior payments and to see if you will be eligible for the full payment. 

Who can apply

To be eligible, you need to meet the following criteria: 

• lived as a child (before the age of 18) in a Victorian institution for at least 6 months (in total) before 1 January 1990
• experienced physical, psychological, or emotional abuse or neglect in the Victorian institution.

You may not be able to apply for Redress, if you were placed in a justice facility as a child because you were found guilty of an offence, and you were not a state ward or under any other protective order. If unsure, please contact the Redress support team.

When you apply, you will need to:

• tell us what you know about the institutional setting/s where you experienced abuse and/or neglect, including the names and dates (approximate) you lived there
• provide a brief description or examples of the abuse and/or neglect you experienced (approximately 300 words).

Please note, family members cannot apply on behalf of a person who has died.

To apply, go to Apply for Redress for Historical Institutional Abuse.

Types of abuse and neglect

The Types of abuse and neglect webpage explains what the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (the department) means by physical, psychological and emotional abuse and neglect in Redress for Historical Institutional Abuse. 

You may find this content distressing and need to talk to someone. You can contact one of the free and confidential redress support services.

Institutional settings

Not all institutional settings are covered in Redress. 

Relevant settings include: 

• orphanages and children's homes 
• missions 
• dormitories 
• group cottage houses 
• hospitals or mental health facilities 
• youth detention centres 
• places for people with disabilities 
• schools that were part of a care facility
• foster care 
• kinship care.  

If you aren’t sure, you can contact the Redress team on 1800 716 870 (free call) phone number Monday to Friday between 9 am and 5 pm or email victorianredress@dffh.vic.gov.au. 

Share your information

When you apply, you will need to agree to: 

• share your name and date of birth with us and other departments, institutions and redress schemes
• other institutions sharing information that confirms the time you were at the institution with us
• other institutions and redress schemes sharing information with us about any relevant prior payments you have received. 

To find out how the department will collect, use and share your information go to Apply for Redress for Historical Institutional Abuse.

What is included in Redress

Payment

Redress payments of up to $20,000 are available to eligible people to acknowledge harm and to support healing.

Depending on previous payments made to you, you may receive a Redress payment of:

• the full amount
• a part payment, or
• no payment.

If you have received a prior payment from the following schemes or institutions, the payment will be deducted from the $20,000.

This includes:

• advance redress payments
• civil settlements for both sexual and non-sexual abuse that occurred in Victorian institutional settings
• payments from other redress schemes that provide redress in relation to abuse and/or neglect in Victorian institutional settings, such as: 
  • Kooyoora Independent Redress Scheme
  • Melbourne Response
  • National Redress Scheme
  • Pathways Victoria
  • Salvation Army
  • Towards Healing.

If you have received a payment from the Stolen Generations Reparations Package or the Historical Forced Adoptions Redress Scheme, the payment amount will not be deducted from your Redress payment. The reason is that these payments address different forms of harm.

When you apply, you must declare any payments you have received from other schemes and that the information provided is true and correct. We will check prior payments in different ways, including checking with other organisations. 

Personal acknowledgement or apology

You can receive a personal acknowledgement or apology from the institution/s responsible for the abuse and neglect you experienced as a child.

An engagement officer will work with you to agree how this will be delivered and what it will cover so it is meaningful for you.

Personal acknowledgement and apologies will:

• allow applicants to speak or write further about their experience and its impact.
• provide a personalised written acknowledgment of the applicant’s experience and the impact of abuse and harm (if disclosed).
• seek to be responsive to applicants’ requests to include senior institutional representative/s, an independent facilitator and support person/s.

Counselling

You can access a counselling service, which will:

• include up to 20 sessions.
• be delivered by qualified professionals, such as psychologists, mental health practitioners.
• include counselling, group work, alternative therapies (limited) and cultural healing for First Peoples.

If you already receive counselling from a practitioner, once registered with the service, you can continue with them.

Contact

If you have questions about Redress, you can contact the Redress team by:

• phone on 1800 716 870 (free call), Monday to Friday between 9 am and 5 pm (excluding public holidays)
• email at victorianredress@dffh.vic.gov.au

Advance redress payments

Applications for advance redress payments closed on 9 December 2024. We are no longer taking applications.

Parliamentary Apology

On Thursday 8 February 2024, Premier Jacinta Allan made a formal Apology in Parliament, to Victorians who experienced abuse and neglect as children in institutional settings before 1990.

A recording of the Apology can be viewed on the Parliament of Victoria website.