Wanslea's 80 years
Wanslea held a staff event on Friday 1 September 2023 celebrating 80 years of supporting children and families in Australia, which included the recognition of staff achievements and customer impacts.
On 16 August 2023, Wanslea officially marked 80 years as a West Australian-based not-for-profit organisation that provides services to children and families.
The milestone is a significant achievement of which Wanslea’s CEO Jo Sadler is extremely proud. During the celebratory event, Jo also acknowledged Wanslea’s not so pleasant past.
“I’m super proud of the organisation we are today and in particular how we all know the importance of keeping children and young people safe. While I am sure we all have this sense of pride about our current practices, it’s important to recognise that there’s times within our 8o year history when this wasn’t the case. This predominantly relates to the poor care and abuse that some children and young people received in the 1960’s and 70’s within our then facilities.
I believe it’s important for all of you to know that we are doing everything we can to support these victims and we have a range of measures in place to do this. One of the things I wanted to share with you all tonight is a new apology for former victims that will be uploaded on our website next week. I believe that by authentically owning this part of our history and apologising for it, we can better support victims on their healing journey.” Jo Sadler said.
Wanslea has joined the National Redress Scheme that supports people who have experienced institutional abuse, and apologises for historical practices. Click here to read Wanslea’s apology to victims.
