Family Matters – Kids Safe in Culture, Not in Care
“Culture is central to identity. Culture defines who we are, how we think, how we communicate, what we value and what is important to us… Every area of human development, which defines the child’s best interest, has a cultural component. Your culture helps define HOW you attach, HOW you express emotion, HOW you learn and HOW you stay healthy.” Muriel Bamblett, a Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung woman and CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency.
Strong cultural systems and support networks are crucial to the healthy development of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Sadly, the protective influences of community and cultural connections are often lost when children are placed in out-of-home care.
This National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day, it is important for every Australian to recognise that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are severely overrepresented in the child protection system and that significant actions need to be taken to change this.
The Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC) support a child protection system that is attuned and responsive to the specific needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families. SNAICC prioritises self-determination in child protection for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as key to ensuring better support, better decisions and better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, their families and their communities. SNAICC also focuses on ensuring that all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children remain with family, are reunified where they have been removed, and stay connected to their Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander culture and community.
In 2013–14 as part of SNAICC’s work in this area, they established the national initiative, ‘Family Matters — Kids Safe in Culture, Not in Care’. This program aims to break the traumatic cycle of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child removal and halve the number of children in out-of-home care by 2018.
As part of the initiative, Family Matters is engaging with key stakeholders and decision-makers across Australia to discuss how to work to reduce the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who are placed in the out-of-home care system. As part of this process, they highlight the lived experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and develop state and territory based action plans.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community led services lead to improved development and education outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children; because of connections to culture, community controlled services are more effective in creating safe and welcoming environments that engage families and connect them children and their families to the service supports they need.
This year’s National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day theme aims to provide a space for everyone to come together to celebrate the achievements of these services and the families and children they support. Show your support for National Aboriginal and Torres Islander Children’s Day by taking action in the following ways.
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