A week into #blogJune, here’s a handy summary of what’s been, and a sneak peek at what’s to come…

In the last week, we’ve posted:

A new look, a new BlogJune; where we launched our new look blog & branding;

Your records: What to expect; for Care Leavers thinking about starting down the path to accessing records from their time in ‘care,’ this updated resource is an easy, short read on how to take the first steps, and what that journey may bring.

Site Survey; Did you know we’re doing a survey into the website?! Firstly, a huge thank you to those of you that have already completed it.

If you haven’t had the chance yet, we’re working on making the site easier to access for the people who need to access it, but we really need to hear from you before we go ahead with any changes. You can do it directly from the blog post, and it will take you less than 5 minutes.

Rescuing the ‘fallen women’ of Tasmania; Find and Connect contains a rich history of Australian institutions. This is a great in-depth read into how Hope Cottage in Tasmania came to be.

A moment from the International Conference on the History of Records and Archives; Those of you who follow us on Twitter may have seen the tweet-flurry from our presentation at the International Conference on the History of Records & Archives (ICHORA). Here, we’ve collated the tweets that referred to Care Leavers, and the development of and access to their records.

Convenient Fires & Floods; Our first podcast delved into Find & Connect’s presentation at ICHORA, telling the real story behind natural disasters being held responsible for records being missing or lost.

Better looking, better searching – site updates; More on the website improvements! You can check out the work we’ve been doing to make sure you can properly see what you’re looking at, there’s more information about photos, and you can find them more easily.

Archives are not neutral; We’re challenging some archival sacred cows to ensure that, on the Find and Connect site, the people who are the subject of records remain central to all that we do.

Coming Up:

There’s still another 3 weeks, (or 20 posts) to go!

We’ll be covering more of what’s coming up on Find & Connect; shift the focus to the broader community that were in “care” as children, including child migrants and Stolen Generations, report back on initiatives established overseas for Care Leavers, and share films, podcasts and exhibitions relating to Australia’s history of “care”. Please keep commenting, tweeting, and sharing, we love hearing from you! (and it helps us work out what you’re interested in).