Indigenous services leading the way for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care

There is a crisis in the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in Australia’s child protection system. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are 37.3% of the total out of home population, but only 5.5% of the total population of children in Australia. Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander children in out of home care are at serious risk of permanent separation from culture as only about 45% of children are placed with an Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander carer (SNAIC, 2019).

The maintenance and experience of culture is an integral human right as documented in The Human Rights Act (2019) QLD, section 28. The Act also stipulates the right of children to be protected (section 26).

Cripps and Lauren (2016) say ‘it is a critical issue that under the current out of home care system, Indigenous children in Australia risk becoming disconnected from their culture . . . more can be done to ensure the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children to their culture. The importance of this cannot be overstated given what we know about culture as a protective factor for our young people.’

While the relevance of culture to raising a child is also acknowledged in the Child Protection Act (1999) QLD, it is clear to CQID that the Government have an administrative, non-Indigenous understanding of the centrality of culture to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.  Consequently, the commitment to ensuring culture is fundamental to the raising of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children is weak, and current government-led processes do not embrace the rich potential of culture as a protective force.

In response to our staff identifying an urgent need to improve the situation, CQID has initiated a community consultation project to identify standards and methodology for a best practice cultural strengthening program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children living in out of home care. The resulting program will have the endorsement and ownership of the local community. We have advised the Government of our project and sought funding to commence implementation of the program in June 2020.

Our objective with this AIATSIS application is to secure funding that will enable the program implementation and methodology to be reviewed by a team from the University of Queensland’s Centre for Policy Futures. The goal is establishment of credible evidence and practice so informed integration of culture can be adopted by policy makers and child protection agencies across Australia.

Researchers will interview 25-30 children, carers and staff members to identify the barriers, enablers and opportunities that are emerging, to strengthen the model. A literature review will present the state of peer-reviewed policy and practice on cultural strengthening in children. Research deliverables will be a policy brief and 1-2 peer-reviewed journal papers.

The research project will provide independent, credible endorsement of a community led and owned cultural intervention and strengthening program. CQID will learn from the project to improve our practice, and lobby for more funds to expand delivery of cultural strengthening for children.