The Alannah and Madeline Foundation

Last updated

Alannah & Madeline Foundation
Founded30 April 1997
Type Charity
Location
Key people
Greg Sutherland, Chairman
Website amf.org.au

The Alannah & Madeline Foundation is a national Australian charity which was launched on 30 April 1997. [1]

Contents

The Alannah & Madeline Foundation's mission is keeping children safe from violence. The foundation cares for children who have experienced or witnessed violence and runs programs which aim to prevent violence in the lives of children. [2] The foundation plays an advocacy role by being a voice against childhood violence.

History and organisation

Formation

Walter Mikac, the organisation's founder Walter Mikac 2017.jpg
Walter Mikac, the organisation's founder

The Alannah & Madeline Foundation was set up in memory of Alannah and Madeline Mikac, aged six and three, who were killed with their mother and 32 others at Port Arthur, Tasmania, on 28 April 1996.

Alannah and Madeline's father, Walter Mikac, Phil West and a small group of volunteers including Gaye and John Fidler who survived Port Arthur, established the foundation in the girls' memory, a national charity with the belief that all children should have a safe and happy childhood without being subjected to any form of violence.

On 30 April 1997, the Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, officially administered the national launch of the Alannah & Madeline Foundation. [1] [3]

Organisation

The Alannah & Madeline Foundation is located in Victoria, but operates as a national charity. [4]

The foundation's mission is keeping children safe from violence.

The foundation's logo was created using part of a family portrait drawn by Alannah Mikac, just months before she was killed at Port Arthur. The logo is Alannah and her younger sister Madeline holding hands. [5]

Programs and services

The Alannah & Madeline Foundation cares for children who have experienced or witnessed violence and runs programs which aim to prevent violence in the lives of children. [6] The foundation plays an advocacy role by being a voice against childhood violence.

Better Buddies

Better Buddies was launched in 2000 and is a school framework designed to create friendly and sharing school communities, in order to reduce the incidence of bullying in Australian schools. [7] Better Buddies helps students entering their first year of primary school to feel safe, valued and connected to the school community. The school pairs new primary school students with an older student buddy. [8]

Queen Mary of Denmark, international patron of the Alannah & Madeline Foundation, has been closely involved with the Better Buddies Framework in Australia and Denmark. In 2007, Queen Mary's Foundation, the Mary Foundation, introduced 'Free of Bullying' to Denmark in co-operation with Save the Children Denmark. The program was developed with inspiration from the Alannah & Madeline Foundation's Better Buddies program. [9] The preventative anti-bullying program has now been implemented in more than 1,000 preschools and 370 schools throughout Denmark. [10]

Buddy Bags

In 2007, the Buddy Bags program was introduced in response to continued demands to support children on their arrival to emergency accommodation, such as foster homes and refuges.

Buddy Bags are backpacks containing essential items, such as toiletries, pyjamas, socks, underwear and a pillowcase, as well as comfort items such as a book, photo frame and teddy bear.

More than 80,000 Buddy Bags have been distributed to children in emergency care throughout Australia. [11]

Children Ahead

Children Ahead was one of the foundation's first programs. Children Ahead provides intensive support to children who have experienced violence, and has helped hundreds of children over the past 10 years to recover from traumatic events and violent circumstances. [12] Qualified staff work directly with children and families to support their emotional, educational and social needs, as well as psychological wellbeing and any overall health concerns. [13]

eSmart Schools

eSmart is a system that helps schools deal with the serious issues of bullying, cyberbullying, cybersafety, and equips students with the skills and knowledge they need for smart, safe and responsible use of technology. [14]

The Alannah & Madeline Foundation worked on the development of the program for three years in collaboration with the RMIT School of Education. The foundation also consulted with the Australian Media and Communication Authority (ACMA), the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR), state education departments' student wellbeing divisions, National Centre Against Bullying (NCAB) members, and cybersafety and technology industry experts across Australia. [15]

In 2010, DEEWR provided $3 million to pilot eSmart in 150 schools across Australia. [15]

In 2011, the Victorian and Queensland Governments partnered with the foundation to make eSmart available to all their state government schools for free, and in Victoria, some independent and catholic schools that are classified as disadvantaged. [16] [17]

eSmart Libraries

The Alannah & Madeline Foundation, in partnership with the Telstra Foundation, will work with Australia's 1,500 public libraries to develop and roll out eSmart Libraries – a cybersafety system to better equip and connect local communities with the skills they need for the smart, safe and responsible use of technology.

eSmart Digital Licence

The eSmart Digital Licence is an online challenge which uses quizzes, videos and games to prepare Australian children (aged ten and over) to be smart, safe and responsible digital citizens.

In 2015, Google partnered with the foundation to make the Digital Licence available to every grade 6 student in Australia. [18]

National Centre Against Bullying

The National Centre Against Bullying (NCAB) is an initiative of The Alannah & Madeline Foundation and is a body of experts who work closely with school communities, government and industries to advise and inform the Australian community on the issue of childhood bullying, cyberbullying and cybersafety, and the creation of safe schools and communities. [19]

Events

National Buddy Day

National Buddy Day is a joint initiative of The Alannah & Madeline Foundation and the National Australia Bank (NAB). [20] National Buddy Day is designed to celebrate friendship and highlight the important issue of bullying.

Starry Starry Night

Starry Starry Night is the foundation's annual gala ball and has become an institution on the Melbourne charity gala ball calendar. Funds raised from the event directly support the work of the foundation.

The event attracts more than 1,000 guests alongside celebrities who individually host tables and perform a variety of singing and dancing acts. [21]

eSmart Week

A week of community and online events held in partnership with schools, libraries and other organisations, to teach and promote smart, safe and responsible behaviours online.

Patrons and ambassadors

NameRole
Queen Mary of Denmark International Patron
Walter Mikac Founding Patron
The Hon. Malcolm Turnbull, former Prime Minister of Australia National Patron
Jimmy Bartel Ambassador
John CaldwellAmbassador
Melissa Doyle Ambassador
Daniel Jackson (footballer) Ambassador
Caitlin FigueiredoAmbassador
Ashton KlineAmbassador

See also

Related Research Articles

GLSEN is an American education organization working to end discrimination, harassment, and bullying based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression and to prompt LGBT cultural inclusion and awareness in K-12 schools. Founded in 1990 in Boston, Massachusetts, the organization is now headquartered in New York City and has an office of public policy based in Washington, D.C.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen Mary of Denmark</span> Queen of Denmark since 2024

Mary is Queen of Denmark as the wife of King Frederik X.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">OutFront Minnesota</span> American LGBT rights organization

OutFront Minnesota is an LGBT rights organization in the state of Minnesota in the United States, founded in 1987. The organization is community-based and uses memberships and other fundraising to support its activities, as well as receiving support from foundations and corporations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Walter Mikac</span> Australian pharmacist (born 1962)

Walter Mikac is an Australian pharmacist who became widely known as a political activist in the aftermath of the Port Arthur massacre, where his wife Nanette Mikac and daughters, six-year-old Alannah Mikac and three-year-old Madeline Mikac were among 35 people killed by Martin Bryant on 28 April 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ivanhoe Girls' Grammar School</span> Private, single-sex, day school in Ivanhoe, Victoria, Australia

Ivanhoe Girls' Grammar School, is a private, Anglican, day school for girls, located in Ivanhoe, an eastern suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1903, the school has a non-selective enrolment policy and currently caters for over 850 students from the Early Learning Centre (ELC) to Year 12.

Susanne Julia Gervay is an Australian author. Her younger fiction in the I Am Jack series are rites-of-passage books focusing on school bullying reaching adults and children. The first instalment has been adapted into a play by the award-winning Monkey Baa Theatre for Young People. I Am Jack is the first of four books including Super Jack, Always Jack and Being Jack. Her powerful realistic young adult literature includes Butterflies, The Cave and That's Why I Wrote This Song which is a collaborative work with her teenage daughter Tory who wrote and sings the songs that are part of the book and downloadable from her website.

An at-risk student is a term used in the United States to describe a student who requires temporary or ongoing intervention in order to succeed academically. At risk students, sometimes referred to as at-risk youth or at-promise youth, are also adolescents who are less likely to transition successfully into adulthood and achieve economic self-sufficiency. Characteristics of at-risk students include emotional or behavioral problems, truancy, low academic performance, showing a lack of interest for academics, and expressing a disconnection from the school environment. A school's effort to at-risk students is essential. For example, a study showed that 80% to 87% of variables that led to a school's retention are predictable with linear modeling. In January 2020, Governor Newsom of California changed all references to "at-risk" to "at-promise" in the California Penal Codes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Redlands College</span> School in Australia

Redlands College is an independent non-denominational Christian co-educational primary and secondary day school, located in the Redland City suburb of Wellington Point, Queensland, Australia. The college caters for approximately 1,300 students from P to Year 12 and is operated by an association formed by members of the Churches of Christ in Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">School bullying</span> Type of bullying in an educational setting

School bullying, like bullying outside the school context, refers to one or more perpetrators who have greater physical strength or more social power than their victim and who repeatedly act aggressively toward their victim. Bullying can be verbal or physical. Bullying, with its ongoing character, is distinct from one-off types of peer conflict. Different types of school bullying include ongoing physical, emotional, and/or verbal aggression. Cyberbullying and sexual bullying are also types of bullying. Bullying even exists in higher education. There are warning signs that suggest that a child is being bullied, a child is acting as a bully, or a child has witnessed bullying at school.

Kidpower Teenpower Fullpower International, commonly shortened to Kidpower, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit child safety organization teaching child protection and personal safety skills to adults and children to prevent bullying, abuse, abduction, and other violence. Kidpower was founded in 1989 in Santa Cruz, California, and has ten locations in the U.S. and 20 in other countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coming Home (Alex Lloyd song)</span> 2003 single by Alex Lloyd

"Coming Home" is a single by Australian artist Alex Lloyd released in August 2003 by EMI Records. It won the 2003 ARIA Music Award for Best Male Artist.

Best Enemies is an education resource and film created by Ross and Darren Bark that discusses the cyber bullying problem in Australian schools, and explores how to tackle it and help students become pro-active in reporting and stopping it.

Cyberbullying or cyberharassment is a form of bullying or harassment using electronic means. Cyberbullying and cyberharassment are also known as online bullying. It has become increasingly common, especially among teenagers and adolescents, due to the communication technology advancements and young people's increased use of such technologies. Cyberbullying is when someone, typically a teenager, bullies or harasses others on the internet and other digital spaces, particularly on social media sites.

The Reach Foundation (Reach) is a youth not-for-profit organisation established by Jim Stynes OAM and film director Paul Currie in 1994. Reach was created from a desire to inspire every young person to believe in themselves and get the most out of life.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SuEllen Fried</span> American bullying prevention activist

SuEllen Fried is an American bullying prevention activist, writer and educator. She was number 900 on President George H. W. Bush's Thousand Points of Light foundation list in 1993.

The Port Arthur massacre was a mass shooting that occurred on 28 April 1996 at Port Arthur, a tourist town in the Australian state of Tasmania. The perpetrator, Martin Bryant, killed 35 people and wounded 23 others, the deadliest massacre in modern Australian history. The attack led to fundamental changes in Australia's gun laws.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Safe Schools Coalition Australia</span>

The Safe Schools Coalition Australia (SSCA) was a group of organisations in Australia focused on LGBTIQ people in schools. Its mission is to create safe and inclusive schools for students, families and staff who are in these groups. The primary activity of the SSCA is the Safe Schools Program that was developed to give support to teachers and schools who had been seeking assistance in the creation of a more inclusive environment for LGBTIQ students and their families.

The suicide of Tyrone Unsworth occurred on 22 November 2016, in Brisbane, Australia. Unsworth, a 13-year-old boy, died by suicide after years of bullying motivated by his homosexuality. His death garnered considerable national attention in Australia, as well as international attention.

The Aussie Battler Party was a political party in Victoria, Australia, formed in October 2018, which contested the 2018 state election. It sought to "represent all of those who are fed up with so much wasting of taxpayers money and time by too many politicians who have forgotten what it is like to live in mainstream society"(sic). The party has been described as arch-conservative and called for a "10-year good behaviour bond" on new migrants and a ban on what they call "paedophile grooming content" in the anti-bullying Safe Schools program.

High Resolves is an International non-governmental organization for young people. The aim of High Resolves programs are to educate high-school aged students in the meaning of being a global citizen. High Resolves programs emerged from simulations developed by co-founder Mehrdad Baghai and Nobel Laureate Thomas Schelling at Harvard University.

References

  1. 1 2 "Our History". amf.org.au. The Alannah & Madeline Foundation. 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
  2. "Our Programs". amf.org.au. The Alannah & Madeline Foundation. 2011. Retrieved 2 October 2011.
  3. Hutchinson, Carrie. "Road to recovery" Archived 4 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine . The Weekly Review, 21 March 2011. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
  4. "The Alannah & Madeline Foundation". Pro Bono Australia. 2011. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  5. "Our Logo". amf.org.au. The Alannah & Madeline Foundation. 2011. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
  6. "Our Programs". amf.org.au. The Alannah & Madeline Foundation. 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
  7. "About Better Buddies". betterbuddies.org.au. Better Buddies. 2011. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
  8. "Better Buddies". amf.org.au. The Alannah & Madeline Foundation. 2011. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
  9. "Save the Children Denmark Programme" [ permanent dead link ]. Save the Children Denmark. 2011. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  10. "Free of Bullying" Archived 8 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine . The Mary Foundation. 2011. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  11. Brown, Terry. "Packing smiles for the lost and the lonely". Herald Sun, 2 June 2011. Retrieved 8 October 2011.
  12. "Children Ahead". amf.org.au. The Alannah & Madeline Foundation. 2011. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  13. "The Alannah & Madeline Foundation". ourcommunity.com.au. 2011. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
  14. "About eSmart". esmartschools.org.au. 2011. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
  15. 1 2 "National Pilot of The Alannah & Madeline Foundation’s Cybersafety and Wellbeing Initiative" Archived 28 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine . Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. 28 June 2010. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
  16. "Schools eSmart cybersafety framework" Archived 21 November 2011 at the Wayback Machine . Queensland Government, Department of Education and Training. 2011. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
  17. "Coalition Govt to Stamp Out Bullying with new $14.5 million plan". Premier of Victoria, Victorian State Government. 12 April 2011. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
  18. "Staying safe online: $1.2 million grant to provide a digital licence for every grade 6 student in Australia". google-au.blogspot.com.au. Google Australia. 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
  19. "About NCAB". ncab.org.au. The National Centre Against Bullying. 2011. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
  20. "National Buddy Week 2011" Archived 6 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine . National Australia Bank. 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
  21. "Starry Starry Night". amf.org.au. The Alannah & Madeline Foundation. 2011. Retrieved 6 October 2011.