Victoria’s former Aboriginal children’s commissioner has called for increased allowances for kinship and foster carers in a bid to increase the pool of First Nations people looking after children in out-of-home care, and ensuring they remain connected to culture.
Andrew Jackomos, who held the commissioner role for five years between 2013 to 2018 and was the first person to hold an Aboriginal children watchdog role, has also appealed for greater safeguards to ensure Indigenous siblings in the out-of-home care system remain in contact.
The Yorta Yorta and Gunditjmara man said it was a challenge to get enough Indigenous carers to step forward when a First Nations child was removed from their family and could not be placed with relatives.
“When children cannot be placed with family they should be placed with people within our community,” he said.
Jackomos said increasing remuneration was one way to incentivise more First Nations people to become carers and ensure Indigenous children separated from their families could remain connected to their culture.
“We need to make it attractive for people to step forward. And people are absolutely committed, but the problem is carers have become burnt out. There needs to be more after-care as well,” he said.
A 2019 report commissioned by the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing found 56% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were placed with a non-Aboriginal carer, and more than half were separated from their siblings.
The head of the state’s foster care association, Samantha Hauge, has previously warned that the failure to increase carer allowances in Victoria was resulting in dire shortages in the sector.
A Victorian government spokesperson said the government acknowledged the “critical and significant role of carers”.
“Victorian children and families have access to more support services through a $2.9bn investment in the Child Protection and Family Services system over the last three budgets,” the spokesperson said.
Jackomos said it was also vital that siblings remained in contact in the out-of-home care system and that separation should be the “absolute last resort”.
“I saw siblings who were separated in the system for many years and lived geographically close together without knowing where they were,” he said.
The issue was raised by First Nations advocate Sissy Austin, who gave evidence at the state’s Indigenous truth commission last week. Austin called for greater accountability of the steps taken by the department to keep siblings in out-of-home care in contact.
The Yoorrook Justice Commission last week began a two-week stint of hearings focusing on witnesses with personal experiences of the child protection and criminal justice system.
Child protection is set to be a key focus in the Andrews government’s third term, with the premier in December vowing to overhaul the sector, saying too many First Nations children are being taken away from their families by the state.
The state’s parliament is expected in the coming weeks to pass a nation-first legislation that will require judges and child protection workers to consider the past mistreatment of Aboriginal families and the impact of trauma from colonisation when dealing with cases involving Indigenous children.
The proposed law is intended to reduce the number of Indigenous children entering the out-of-home care system by empowering Aboriginal-controlled organisations to connect families with support before a court order is made.
According to the latest figures from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, one in nine Aboriginal infants aged under one are taken from their parents by the state in Victoria – more than double the national average.
