A new report by a First Nations-led coalition has found Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are 10 times more likely to be removed from their families at rates that have continued to rise over the past decade.
More than 21,500 Indigenous children are in out-of-home care as of June 2020, with 79 per cent permanently living away from their birth parents.
The CEO of the national peak body for Aboriginal children and families, SNAICC's Catherine Liddle, said the statistics are more than damning.
“They're unacceptable,” said the Arrernte/Luritja woman.
“People have been saying this for a long time, yet the change in investment and transformation to the system that's required to fix it hasn't followed through.”
A new National Agreement on Closing the Gap signed in 2020 includes a target to reduce the number of First Nations children in out-of-home care by 45 per cent by 2031.
But SNAICC’s Family Matters report projects this over-representation will rise by 54 per cent by the end of the decade instead.
“We're going in the wrong direction,” Wiradjuri man and report co-chair Dr Paul Gray said.
“What that tells us is that those systems are less effective at diverting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families out of the system early, putting those interventions and supports in place so kids can remain safely at home.”
Families need more support
Ms Liddle said the factors driving removals are complex, but financial strain is a major issue.
“Our families that are in contact with the child protection system are subject to poverty,” Ms Liddle said.
Mr Gray said more efforts should be focused on addressing and preventing risk factors instead of intervening in families where risks are already present.
“This is about fundamentally transforming how we support families and children to give every child the best opportunity to be raised safe, strong and supported by culture,” Mr Gray said.
Only around 16 per cent of child protection investment is directed towards supporting families.
“We spend four times more on the out of home care system,” Mr Gray said.
“If you want to get a different result then you’ve got to flip that number over."
Ms Liddle said Aboriginal people also need to be at the forefront in child protection.
“The majority of services designed to support those children and not indigenous-led, informed by indigenous perspectives or staffed by Indigenous people,” she said.
Mr Gray said different outcomes are delivered when the solutions are led by First Nations people as opposed to governments engaging Aboriginal community-controlled organisations to deliver their programs.
“Commissioning those communities to develop local solutions can be really innovative and meet those communities where they are, respond to community strengths and build on community strengths.”
“The evidence internationally is really clear that when First Nations people lead solutions for their communities, the outcomes are better.”
Despite grim projections, Ms Liddle said achieving the new Closing the Gap targets isn’t impossible.
“If governments both commonwealth, state and territory actually listened to the voices of Aboriginal people and actually start implementing the changes required, that target is achievable, but it's not going to be easy,” she said.
“We have a very big job ahead of us and it requires urgent and committed action,” Mr Gray said.
“We need to see urgent action for change.”
