What is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle?

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle has been shaped by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders and community-controlled child welfare organisations, emerging from grassroots advocacy in the 1970s in response to the profound harms caused by child removal policies, including those that led to the Stolen Generations, and was formally recognised in Australian child welfare legislation in the early 1980s.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle affirms that culture, family, community and Country are fundamental to the safety, wellbeing and identity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. It recognises that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, communities and community-controlled organisations are best placed to make decisions about children’s care and protection and must be actively involved in every decision affecting their lives.

Across all Australian jurisdictions, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle is embedded in legislation, policy and practice and is foundational to building a  culturally safe national child protection system that uphold the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, families and communities.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle aims to:

• embed culture as central to the safety and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children,
• uphold the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, families and communities in contact with child welfare systems,
• strengthen self-determination for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in child protection decision-making,
• reduce the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care and the broader child protection system, and
• support family-led decision-making, prevent unnecessary entry into care and promote family reunification where separation occurs.

The Child Placement Principle comprises five interrelated elements; Prevention, Partnership, Placement, Participation and Connection, which must be applied together to realise the full intent of the Principle. By centring prevention, cultural connection, community leadership and self-determination, the Child Placement Principle supports stronger connections for children and families and contributes to reducing over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in child protection systems.

Continue reading to find out more about the elements or use the link to find SNAICC’s Implementation Reviews that assess how well governments are applying the full intent of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle in legislation, policy, programs and practice.

The Child Placement Principle Implementation Reviews

Implementation and Progress Reporting

Across jurisdictions, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle continues to inform legislation, policy, practice frameworks and accountability mechanisms, affirming the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, families and communities and supporting community-led approaches to child safety and wellbeing.

However, despite the Child Placement Principle being embedded in legislation, policy and practice frameworks across all Australian states and territories, implementation remains poor and incomplete. Research and system reviews consistently show that many child protection systems focus narrowly on placement decisions, often overlooking the full intent of the five interrelated elements; Prevention, Partnership, Placement, Participation and Connection. This narrow focus undermines the holistic, culturally grounded approach the Child Placement Principle requires.

Several key barriers to meaningful implementation have been identified across jurisdictions, including, but not limited to:

• ongoing and entrenched over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care,
• inconsistent involvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and community organisations in decision-making,
• limited quality cultural care planning, and
• systemic gaps in understanding and measuring progress across all five elements of the Child Placement Principle.

Current progress reporting, coordinated by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, shows that available, nationally consistent data relate primarily to only the Placement and Connection elements, while Prevention, Partnership and Participation are currently under development. The last update to the Indicators Report was 26 August 2022.

History and Legislative Status of the Child Placement Principle

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle was developed through sustained advocacy by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, families and community-controlled child welfare organisations in the 1970s to respond to the devastating impacts of child removal policies, including those that led to the Stolen Generations.

The Child Placement Principle was formally recognised as a guiding principle in the early 1980s, first incorporated into Northern Territory child welfare legislation in 1983, and subsequently embedded into child protection and adoption laws in all Australian states and territories over the following decade.

Safe and Supported

Today, the Child Placement Principle is embedded not only in legislation and statutory policy frameworks across all jurisdictions but also in national child protection reform agendas. It is a central feature of Safe and Supported: the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2021–2031, Australia’s ten-year strategy to improve child safety and wellbeing, with a specific focus on addressing the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in child protection and out-of-home care.

Safe and Supported was developed in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders and organisations, including SNAICC, and recognises that meaningful change requires a shift away from crisis-driven and punitive responses toward prevention, early intervention and family-led solutions grounded in culture, community and self-determination.

Complementing the Safe and Supported framework, the Safe and Supported: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander First Action Plan 2023–2026 translates these commitments into agreed priority actions. The Action Plan embeds the five interrelated elements of the Child Placement Principle across implementation priorities, strengthening accountability for governments and systems to work in genuine partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and to support culturally safe, community-controlled approaches to child and family wellbeing.

Safe and Supported

Family Matters

The Family Matters annual report produced by SNAICC – National Voice for our Children examines government action to address the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in child protection, and tracks progress toward ensuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children grow up safe, cared for and connected to family, community, Country and culture.

Since its first edition in 2016, Family Matters has amplified community voices, highlighted system failures and advocated for holistic, culturally safe responses that align with the intent of the Child Placement Principle. The report’s goal is for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children to grow up safe, strong and connected to family, community and culture and, ultimately, to eliminate over-representation in out-of-home care within a generation. The report monitors progress against national commitments, such as Target 12 of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, and meaningful implementation of the five elements of the Child Placement Principle across states and territories.

Family Matters 2025 is the tenth and most recent edition of the report. This report’s message is clear: invest in families, not crisis. The 2025 edition of the report warns that Australia’s child protection systems continue to prioritise late, punitive interventions rather than the early supports that families need to stay strong and together and that, despite years of commitments to reduce the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care, progress has stalled.

Family Matters