The Stolen Generations happened due to official Australian government policies from the mid-1800s to the 1970s that forcibly removed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. The aim was to assimilate these children into white society, based on beliefs of racial superiority and the idea that Indigenous people would die out or be absorbed into white culture. The children were taken under laws and policies that gave authorities broad powers to remove them, supposedly for their welfare, often denying the children access to their families, languages, and cultures. Many children were placed in institutions or fostered by non-Indigenous families, and the removals caused deep and lasting trauma for the children and their communities.