Australia’s child protection system will be transformed with a commitment from the nation’s major child and family care organisations to let Aboriginal community controlled organisations (Accos) take the lead with Indigenous children in out-of-home care.
The historic step commits founding members of Allies for Children, an umbrella organisation which includes Act for Kids, Barnardos Australia, Life Without Barriers, OzChild, Mackillop Family Services, Key Assets and the Benevolent Society, to reunifying Indigenous children with Accos and community.
The move follows years of advocacy from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak groups who have pushed for governments and non-government organisations to listen to the evidence and invest in community-led solutions.
The peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, Snaicc – National Voice for Our Children, has been working with Allies for Children to create the policy change, which will see major NGOs push ahead with changes in the absence of major government action.
Catherine Liddle, the chief executive of Snaicc, said the evidence from reports like Family Matters is that community-controlled organisations “provide the best outcomes for children and families”.
“They have greater successes in reunifying Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children with family, because they are an intrinsic part of community,” she said.
Liddle said the commitment from the Allies for Children organisations was a “bold” first move, which would need appropriate resources to ensure community controlled services had what they needed to be ready.
“The government hasn’t made a change as bold as this one,” she said.
“So it starts with that type of catalyst. Do I think that there will be challenges for services as they go on this journey? Absolutely, there will be challenges for them, but it starts with the commitment, and they are committed, and this is a really good thing.”
Liddle said the priority reforms for Closing the Gap made it clear systems needed to change from the outside in and “this is the first really big budge that we have seen”.
“And what we now need is for governments to also lean into this and get it to help work with the community controlled sector, to be ready and to be ready at the pace they need and with the resourcing that they need,” she said.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children continue to be over-represented in the out-of-home care system, with the 2023 Family Matters report finding Indigenous Children were 10.5 times more likely to be in out-of-home care than non-Indigenous children.
Last year, nearly 22,330 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were in out-of-home care. The latest Closing the Gap data showed the target to reduce the representation of Indigenous children in the system would not be met on current trends.
Claire Robbs, the chief executive of Life Without Barriers, said the commitment was the first step in creating system-wide change.
In areas where there are established Accos, the Allies for Children groups would take guidance for intake and placement for children, and would not accept children into care without proper cultural oversight.
Once the necessary resources and supports are in place, Indigenous children-in-care will be transitioned into First Nations controlled groups.
In areas where there is no established Acco, Allies for Children groups will work with peak Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups and communities to establish what is needed.
“The reason that it’s important that we do this together is because Allies for Children represent around about 20% of the out-of-home care system that’s provided by NGOs,” Robbs said.
“So we’ve got a really important role to take action ourselves, but also to role model to other NGOs that, actually, this is action that we can take.
“We don’t have to wait for government. We actually can take this ourselves, and that in itself, will really shift the change.”
Robbs said the commitment will mean changes for the NGOs as well, as they take steps back to let Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations take the lead.
“If we’re truly practitioners and we’re focused on the best interests of children in our communities, then the research, the evidence and the First Nations communities tell us that Aboriginal children have the innate right to grow up in culture and community, and we know that the evidence tells us that that is what is in their best interests,” she said.
Children are already being transferred to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander controlled organisations where they are established and resourced, and groups have also committed to not compete with Accos for government tenders.
“So that means that the power, the funding, the having that seat at the table will transfer from organisations like the allies, over to Aboriginal community and Aboriginal controlled organisations, and peaks, when it’s relevant to Aboriginal children, and all of that is part of this journey,” Robb said.
