Australian Charity of the Year 2018, Friends With Dignity, will soon launch the fifth round of its Little Friends Scholarship program. The program, which is an Australian-first, awards bi-annual monetary scholarships to children throughout Australia who have faced, or are facing, domestic or family violence. The educational and extra-curricular scholarships help to cover a variety of expenses from helping kids attend camp and after-school activities with their peers, to providing uniforms.
The first four rounds of the program have seen a total of 120 scholarships awarded, with a minimum of 40 scholarships on offer in round five. Friends With Dignity Director and Chief Financial Officer, Julia McKenna said, “The scholarships are designed to help young domestic violence survivors rebuild their confidence by finding something they are good at, and ensuring their education continues”. The not-for-profit organisation responded to requests from the community to contribute to their Little Friends Scholarship program by launching the Little Friends Scholarship Community Fund in round three, allowing the general public to also help children in need. “Donations to the Little Friends Scholarship Community Fund can be large or small. All funds received will be pooled together in $500 amounts (the size of a scholarship), and all donations over $2 are tax deductible,” said McKenna.
According to the Childhood Domestic Violence Association, it is statistically proven that exposure to domestic violence has a huge impact on children. Experts say that exposure can lead to short- and long-term negative mental, behavioural, and social effects. Further, children who witness physical, emotional or verbal domestic violence growing up are twice as likely to abuse drugs, and six times more likely to die by suicide. “Many of the children that have historically applied for a scholarship are suffering from significant trauma. Some even with PTSD, which we would equate to that suffered by our servicemen and women returning from a war zone,” said Ms McKenna.
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