Heartfelt House gets Federal funding
The Member for Page, Janelle Saffin, has announced Government funding to support local organisation, Heartfelt House at Wollongbar, in running workshops for adult survivors of child sexual abuse.
“Heartfelt House has long been trying to get Government support for its innovative programs, but it seems the organisation didn’t fit neatly into any Federal or State Department’s area,” Ms Saffin said.
“While there were programs for protecting children, and child victims of sexual abuse, there wasn’t a department with responsibility for services for adult survivors of child sexual abuse.
“I had seen first-hand the wonderful work being done by Vicki Hamilton at Heartfelt House and it was clear that her programs were meeting a great need in the community to support adult survivors of abuse to gain strength to get on with their lives.
“I took up the case in Canberra and lobbied the Minister for Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin, for the issue of adult survivors of child abuse to be included in the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children.
“As a result, when the first National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children was announced this year it included a strategy to ensure survivors of sexual abuse have access to effective treatment and appropriate support.
“As part of this strategy Heartfelt House has received Commonwealth funding to support workshops for adult survivors of sexual abuse, non-offending parents, and spouses. Heartfelt House in May they received $28,000 for the First Step program of workshops.
“Now I’m announcing $45,200 in funding for the First Steps program at Heartfelt House, which is for the evaluation and development of the program so it can potentially be used by other agencies across Australia.”
