CLAN was founded in July 2000 by two Sydney Care Leavers, Joanna Penglase, and Leonie Sheedy. Leonie was a state ward in Victoria, who grew up in a Catholic Children’s Home. Joanna grew up in NSW, in a non-government Children’s Home that was run as a business under licence from the Child Welfare Department (now DoCS). Their childhoods spanned the decades, after WW2, the late 1940s, 50s and 60s. They met when Joanna was researching her PHD thesis, based on her experience growing up in a Home and the stories of 90 other people who grew up in care in NSW. Joanna put out over 150 ads in local newspapers to reach out to other care leavers. Leonie and Joanna met up when Joanna’s thesis was finished and so they decided to start a support and advocacy group for people like us – Care Leavers of Australia Network, or CLAN. The library in Geelong holds over 600 books