Agent Orange Children at the Big Table
Dr Alarna Vrieling’s research gives voice to adult children of Australian Vietnam veterans, examining health outcomes across generations and their relationship to their fathers’ Agent Orange exposure.
Below are her own words on joining the Defence & Veterans Service Commissioner’s Advisory Group.
(We are being seen) 🧡
“Proud to share that I've joined the Commissioner's Advisory Group of the newly established Defence and Veterans' Service Commission (DVSC), under Commissioner @PennyMckay, established following the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide to oversee implementation of its recommendations.
This builds on my doctoral research at Charles Sturt University, "Adult Children of Australian Vietnam Veterans: A Silent Generation with a Story to Tell," which gave voice to 94 adult children of Vietnam Veterans and revealed poorer health outcomes across generations and a clear statistical link to their fathers' Agent Orange exposure. Since publishing in November 2025, the thesis has been downloaded 1,350+ times, reaching as far as Yale Law School Veterans Legal Clinic.
In this new advisory capacity, I will draw on my clinical background as an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker of twenty years' standing, and the lived-experience evidence gathered from my research participants.
I hope my advice and insights will help to inform the Defence and Veterans' Service Commissioner's work and functions - holding the government to account for the meaningful implementation of the 2024 Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide's recommendations.
Adult children of Vietnam veterans are significantly under represented, I'm proud to be giving them a voice at this table.
Grateful to Annabelle Wilson and Charles Sturt University Professor Wendy Bowles and Dr Fredrik Velander, for their support.
For more on DVSC: https:// www.dvsc.gov.au
For more on members of the group:
My research thesis: https://Inkd.in/
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Further information available ⬇️
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