Patricia Stephenson (Social Democrats)

I move amendment No. 6:

In page 7, line 18, after “2002,” to insert “such a service to be provided by professionals with expertise in institutional abuse and forced family separation,”.

This amendment focuses on the quality of professional support that survivors receive, recognising their specific needs and the professional experience counselling providers and professionals should have in instances of institutional abuse and forced-family separation. In the past, we have heard reports of people feeling the standard of support they received was retraumatising in some cases. If we are to truly respect and recognise the trauma survivors have experienced, we need to provide them with the dignity of a service that has a specialist skill set to meet those needs. Survivors have endured deep and lasting hurt and trauma. It should be incumbent on us to ensure the professional support they need meets those standards.