A new partnership will create safe ways for survivors of abuse in state care to engage with a Royal Commission inquiry, and it aims to ensure the voices of all victims are heard.
The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry was established in 2018 to investigate allegations of neglect and abuse of children, young adults and vulnerable people in care between 1950 and 1999.
The Commission has paired with non-governmental organisation VOYCE - Whakarongo Mai which advocates for children in state care.
VOYCE chief executive officer Tracie Shipton says the partnership allows the Commission to cover more ground.
"We are an organisation that's been established to amplify the voices of people in care, so we work with people who are in state care, or have recently left - so we cover the years that the Commission doesn't," she told The AM Show on Monday.
Commission chair Coral Shaw says it's critical to hear from those who are in care currently so that the recommendations made by the Commission can be relevant.
"Half our inquiry is looking back but a lot of it is looking forward. The children of today are the future, they are the ones who experience it at the moment and one of our jobs is to understand what the conditions are at this point, so that it can be safe for those in the future."
A Memorandum of Understanding between VOYCE and the Commission will help to ensure all survivors of neglect know about and can engage with the Royal Commission to share their story.
"Our job is to find out what happened and to make recommendations, but the voices of the current people are so important," said Shaw.
"We must hear our young voices and we must take care of them," she continued.
She says VOYCE is the perfect group to partner with to ensure the Commission is as effective as possible.
"VOYCE is a marvellous organisation who engage with children at such a young level, they can lead them through and look after them through what, from the outside, must seem like quite a scary process and help them understand they'll be looked after.
"The more accounts we get, the better job we can do."
