• TBC

• Wendy Nungarrayi Brown – Member (Marlpa Jungu Jintangka)
• Ormay Nangala Gallagher – Member (Marlpa Jungu Jintangka), Literacy Worker in Bilingual Resource Development (Yuendumu School)
• Gretel Macdonald – Project Manager (Pirlirrpa Ngurrju-maninjaku Project)
• Yamurna Oldfield – Member (Marlpa Jungu Jintangka), Assistant Principal (Yuendumu School)
• Belinda Napaljarri Wayne – Member (Marlpa Jungu Jintangka), NT Department of Education Aboriginal Engagement Officer (Yurrumpi Child and Family Centre)
• Jean Brown – Member (Marlpa Jungu Jintangka)
• Samantha Watson – Member (Marlpa Jungu Jintangka), Sage House Support Worker (Yuendumu School)

In their presentation, members of Marlpa Jungu Jintangka ‘the Yuendumu Early Childhood Reference Group’ will share about the Pirlirrpa Ngurrju-maninjaku 'Healing the Spirit' project, through storytelling and some short hands-on activities. The project involved a journey of learning, supported by the Australian Childhood Foundation, about trauma and its effects on brain development in young children. It also involved developing resources about healing from trauma, which have been designed specifically for use in Warlpiri communities.

• Catherine Liddle – CEO (SNAICC - National Voice for our Children)

This panel of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives from the Early Childhood Care and Development Policy Partnership will be facilitated by SNAICC CEO Catherine Liddle. The Panel will have a dynamic and open discussion on the surprises, opportunities and challenges emerging from this new way of working with governments through the Policy Partnerships, including the importance of shared decision making as a step towards self-determination in policy making.

• Sheree Lowe – Djab Wurrung and Gunditjmara woman, Executive Director, Social and Emotional Wellbeing Centre of Excellence (Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO))

VACCHO’s Balit Durn Durn Centre is leading the implementation of key reforms from the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System - an intensive Aboriginal social and emotional wellbeing service model for infants, children and families, and a Healing Centre service model. This presentation will share insights from these co-design projects, including how to respond to the ‘missing middle’ in care for our children and families by understanding what really works to be healthy, safe and strong.

• Vicki Atkinson – Early Years Service Manager – Koori First Steps Preschool (Mungabareena Aboriginal Coorporation)
• Tameeka Glass – Leadership Advisor, THRYVE Division (SNAICC - National Voice for our Children)

This presentation will raise awareness of how Aboriginal Controlled Community Organisations can provide child centred services that nourish and empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families. We will unpack the narrative of how Koori First Steps Preschool expanded into the Early Years Hub, share the specific and targeted services for children in out of home care and explore the process of the expansion to early years programs and long-day care in the new purpose-built centre.

• Dr Francis Bobongie-Harris – Senior Lecturer and Researcher, School of Early Childhood and Inclusive Education (Queensland University of Technology)
• Professor Linda Harrison – Professorial Research Fellow, School of Education (Macquarie University)

The Early Years Learning Framework Version 2 has the new inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives embedded throughout. It begins with a new Vision, the inclusion of a new Principle of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives, the Practice of cultural responsiveness to ensure cultural safety and Learning Outcomes. Examples will be shared from the pilot with educators, community representatives and policy makers the focus.

• Emma Bamblett – Cultural and Healing Practice Lead, Aboriginal Children's Healing Team (Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA))
• Angelica Tusini-Rex – Senior Therapeutic Practitioner, Aboriginal Children's Healing Team (Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA))

Learn about VACCA’s Aboriginal Children’s Healing Team’s (ACHT) use of culturally-led therapeutic work to support the healing journey of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. The presentation discusses the ACHT model, challenges and opportunities and a case study of a child's healing journey. The session is ideal for clinical and cultural practitioners who want to improve healing practices and learn about the benefits of advocating for culturally-led therapeutic models to support social and emotional wellbeing.

• Rob Russell – Gomeroi Man on Awabakal Country, Director National Reconciliation (Life Without Barriers)
• Adele Cox – Bunuba and Gija Woman, Director Sector Development (SNAICC – National Voice for our Children)
• Rob Ryan – Executive Lead, Strategy and Partnerships (Life Without Barriers)
• Peter Morris – General Manager, Reconciliation Action Planning Program (Reconciliation Australia)

Life Without Barriers has partnered with SNAICC and Reconciliation Australia and achieved the first Elevate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) for a Not-for-Profit. The Transformation project is founded upon the Family Matters Building Blocks and LWB’s commitment is to progressively step away from providing out-of-home care services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children by 2031. In this panel we will hear from members of the partnership about the process undertaken to build the partnership, the challenges, opportunities and road map for the future.

• Tanya King – Family Development Officer (Mulungu Family Care Service)
• Jennifer Parsons – Project Coordinator (Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak (QATSICPP))

This presentation highlights the work undertaken by Mulungu Family Care Service in developing and implementing Collaborative Competence with Child Safety and Families to have Newborn babies born safe and go home to family. The cohort represented all had previous children removed into OOHC and a high risk of these newborns also being removed.  The rights of the child, the rights of the family and the service advocacy made a significant difference to the expected outcome.

• Central Australia Aboriginal Congress Family Support Staff
• Professor Sharon Dawe – School of Applied Psychology (Griffith University)
• Dr Carmen Cubillo – Healing Circle Psychology
• Associate Professor Paul Harnett – School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Griffith University)
• Christopher Brockelbank  – iTalk studios

The Intensive Family Support staff at Congress in partnership with the developers of the Parents under Pressure program, Dr Carmen Cubillo and ITalk studios have created a series of resources to support work with families. Specifically, animations were developed, each telling a short story illustrating the importance of parental emotional regulation and helping children to feel sage and loved. The presentation describes the animations and how they are used as a resource for family support workers.

• TBC

• Isabel Toby – Team Leader (54reasons Connected Beginnings)
• Guy and Cecelia Douglas – Community Members

54reasons Connected Beginnings team, Doomadgee invites you to our yarning circle, where we will share with you the literacy and language projects and events we have run in partnership with our children, families, and community.  Our Digital Storyteller project, children’s story books, Black star Radio ‘Story Time’ and our Family Camps are each year to not only support our young ones in Doomadgee in their right to education, but to grow up strong in their culture.

• Dr Bianca Kelly – Research, Evaluation and Youth Engagement Specialist (Queensland Family and Child Commission)
• Andrew Loft – Community Partnerships Officer (Queensland Family and Child Commission)

This presentation will talk about how the Queensland Family and Child Commission have prepared Queensland’s first child rights report drawing on the data available from government and non-government organisations, as well as gathering and sharing the voices and stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, young people, their families and those who work with them.

• Kathy Pickett – Aboriginal Cultural Advisor (Yorgum Healing Services)

Yorgum’s Healing Services, Aboriginal Cultural Advisor, Kathy Pickett, will a present case study that demonstrate cultural responsiveness by listening to the voices of young Aboriginal children removed from family, and culture and placed in the child protection system. By using therapies grounded in cultural practices such as therapeutic cultural tools along with mindfulness practices that connect to country and culture which support young Aboriginal children to begin to heal from the significant loss, grief and trauma.

• Jack Stanton – Team Leader, Lakidjeka, Aboriginal Child Specialist Advice Support Service (Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA))
• Alys Sebire – Aboriginal-Led Case Conference Convenor, Aboriginal-Led Case Conferencing Trial (Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA))
• Bethany Uhe – Project Manager, Aboriginal Child Protection Diversion Project (Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA))

As part of the Aboriginal Child Protection Diversion project, VACCA trialled the innovative Aboriginal-led Case Conferencing (ALCC) model that was found to successfully divert Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children away from investigation by child protection into culturally safe supports. This presentation will provide an understanding of the model, the Aboriginal-led co-design process, and evaluation findings from Sarah Wise and Graham Brewster, University of Melbourne, Seeking Safety: Aboriginal Child Protection Diversion Trials Evaluation Final Report (2022).

• Gordon Campbell – Language Teacher Consultant (Bermagui Public School)
• Julia Loughran – Primary School Teacher (Bermagui Public School)
• Julie Kirk – Primary School Teacher (Bermagui Public School)

Our presentation will feature Bermagui Public School’s newly launched website, which was made in collaboration with students, families and community. It gives voice to the local Yuin people and one of our languages, Dhurga. Participants will be able to follow the journey of its creation and interact with the site, seeing the many resources it includes – songs, games, art, printable resources and Ganandhimila-nj – We Learn, a NSW awarding-winning documentary.

• Daniel Powell – Senior Quality Advisor, LGBTIQA+ Inclusive Practice, Continuous Quality Improvement (Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA))
• Sandy Gillam – Program Manager, Continuous Quality Improvement (Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA))

The paper will outline how VACCA achieved Rainbow Tick accreditation in Victoria. It will cover the steps in the process, including meeting the accreditation standards, the importance of governance, the consultation process and engagement of key stakeholders. The session will also cover how VACCA navigated physical spaces to ensure they promoted cultural safety for the LGBTIQA+ community. The presentation will also outline ongoing activities, such as inclusive yarning circles, to further inclusive practice and maintain accreditation.

• Candice Butler – Director, Innovation and Practice Development (Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak (QATSICPP))
• Community Researchers (names TBC)

The Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak, Australian Catholic University and eight community researchers from across Queensland partnered to undertake a significant piece of research to understand how services and systems including health and education can better hear from and respond to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people who experience domestic and family violence.  This joint presentation will guide participants through the development of the framework and provide practical examples of how this framework can be implemented in their daily practice across all system levels.

• Terri Libesman – Associate Professor, Faculty of Law (University of Technology Sydney)
• Paul Gray – Associate Professor, Jumbunna Institute of Indigenous Education and Research (University of Technology Sydney)

Hear new research about the experience of parents with disability of child protection systems, across notification, access to support, child protection intervention and out-of-home care, including the views of parents, advocates, and service providers. The research identified challenges in systems and practice, including intake, support and assessment, and legal systems, with recommendations to improve outcomes for children and families.

• Tennille Lamb – National Policy Director (First Peoples Disability Network)

FPDN has recently established a First Nations Young People's Advisory group to ensure their voices and experiences are at the core of our systemic advocacy efforts.  This presentation will provide young people with disabilities a platform to share their experiences and needs and discuss opportunities to achieve the transformative and systemic change needed to enable positive outcomes.

• Jodie Lalara – Community Connector (Connected Beginnings Angurugu)
• Roshania Lalara – Community Connector (Connected Beginnings Angurugu)
• Mabel Nunggumajbarr – Community Connector (Connected Beginnings Angurugu)
• Lesley Richardson – Director (Connected Beginnings Groote Archipelago)

To assist Anindilyakwa children to thrive; we are creating a culturally strong sustainable service integration model co-designed with community members. This presentation focuses on the Connected Beginnings service integration model across the Groote Archipelago. It sets out our approaches and working in partnership with families, community members and service providers utilising Identity and Culture, Healthy and Learning (ARACY NEST indicators) that support positive outcomes for Anindilyakwa children and other Aboriginal children living in the Groote Archipelago.

• Candy McKay – Transition Coach (Yorganop)
• Gareth Morkel – Home Stretch Coordinator (Yorganop)

Home Stretch is a post care service for young people aged 18-21 years, designed with young people with lived experience of the out-of-home care system, and with a focus on Aboriginal young people. Yorganop is WA’s only ACCO providing OOHC services and commenced Home Stretch in 2022, implementing the service with a focus on the program principals but delivering the service with culture at its core.

• Nicole Milburn – Clinical Psychologist and Chair (Tweddle Foundation and Australian Association for Infant Mental Health)
• Ashley Morris – Manager Koori Services and Programs (Children’s Court of Victoria)
• Meena Singh – Aboriginal Children’s Commissioner (Victorian Commission for Children and Young People)
• Matthew Wilson – Program Manager (Family Drug Treatment Court Victoria)

The presentation will share solution focused approaches to infants and their families who are involved in Child Protection Services from the UK and US. The work of the Marram-Ngala Ganbu program will be presented as one example of a specific approach to Aboriginal families in the Children’s Court, and Commissioner Singh will lead a group discussion advocating for change the Child Protection Court system in Australia so it better meets the needs of Aboriginal families.

• Deeann Sailor – Manager, Youth Services (Palm Island Community Company)
• Jeanie Sam – Manager, Children and Youth (Palm Island Community Company)

The issue of youth crime has become a hot topic in the media. In Queensland, the messaging by government is that they will adopt a ‘tough on crime’ approach. These punitive approaches do little to address the underlying causes of offending behaviours for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people. Our presentation will tell a hopeful narrative about our young people and offer an alternative approach to tackling the complex issues driving the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the youth justice system. Together with young people who have participated in the program, we will share stories of our early wins and successes and demonstrate that addressing social and cultural determinants of health improves community safety.

• Office of the Children's Commissioner NT

Every child has a right to have a say in matters that affect them. Hear directly from Territory children and young people about two significant issues impacting the communities they live in, Racism and Homelessness. How their experiences of these issues have impacted them and those around them, and their ideas for how things in their community can be improved.

• Alex Liddle – Project Officer (NPY Women’s Council)
• Crystal Ibrahim – Kinship Case Manager (NPY Women’s Council)

NYP’s Walytjapiti and Child Advocacy Programs work to support families with early intervention and ongoing support whilst also addressing and reducing systemic stressors across the child protection spectrum.  The programs have worked to capture Anangu family stories of strength using story-telling and narrative therapy approaches. This presentation will outline the process that has been used to capture these stories in a strengths-based and culturally safe way. Most importantly it will highlight the strength and resilience of Anangu families.

• SNAICC - National Voice for our Children

In 2022 SNAICC worked with our members and ACCOs in the child and family sector to scope a new peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families in South Australia. SNAICC heard from Aboriginal communities throughout SA about the need for a peak body to help transform outcomes for Aboriginal children and families involved with child protection. This presentation will highlight the model for a new peak body, how the peak body can enhance the sector, and can support legislative and policy reforms going forward.

• Shirleen Campbell – Co-coordinator - Tangentyere Women’s Family Safety Group (Tangentyere Council Aboriginal Corporation)
• Connie Shaw – Facilitator - Youth Family Safety Group (Tangentyere Council Aboriginal Corporation)

The Girls Can Boys Can project aims to create generational change that will prevent violence against women by challenging rigid gender stereotypes, and showing healthy, fun, equal and respectful relationships between girls and boys, along with the strengths of Aboriginal children, families, and communities. The original toolkit, developed for use by Early Years and Primary School educators, is being expanded and adapted by Town Camp communities and translated into Central Desert languages.

• Josephine Crawshaw – Gurindji Elder, Chairperson (Close Don Dale NOW!), National Co-Chair (Uluru Statement from the Heart Working Group), former ATSIC Commissioner, former CEO (Northern Territory’s Peak Body for Aboriginal Children, Youth and Families)

Josephine Crawshaw presents holistic and incisive commentary on the interlocked systems working against First Nations children—child removal, prisons, courts, and the police. She highlights the necessity for those working within these systems to recognise them as tools of genocide in the colonial project, which must be abolished so that First Nations peoples can reclaim the restorative and transformative justice practices that have been sustaining our peoples since the first human sunrise.

• Ashum Owen – Principle Policy, Research and Advocacy Officer (Office of the Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People South Australia)

Our Aboriginal children and young people have the right to healthy development and wellbeing, and the right to their family, culture, community, and country. The child protection and youth justice systems often deny these rights and cause significant loss and harm. This presentation explores research into the impacts of the intersection of these systems and what we can do to support children and young people’s mental health, wellbeing, and cultural identities.

• Anita North – Senior Project Officer Family Violence Initiatives (Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA))
• Nina Levin – Executive Manager Capacity Development and Service Reform (Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA))

Aboriginal approaches in healthy respectful relationships yarns for our young mob is the path forward to living free from family violence in our community. This is why VACCA has developed the Deadly Lovin’ program. In this interactive workshop, you will see how the program uses traditional and contemporary cultural wisdom to get the message across to the next generation and support them to make good choices in their intimate partner relationships.

• Sheree Hilt – Project Officer (Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak (QATSICPP))
• Lucas Moore – Advocacy Lead (Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak (QATSICPP))
• Jacinta Keys Lively – Gunggandji Woman, Youth Bail Support Practitioner
• Walanbarra Yanner – Gangalidda Woman, Housing Support Worker
• Gullara McInnes – Koko-Muluridgi Woman, Science/Law Student (James Cook University)
• Simeon Mays – Yidinjdji Man

In this interactive session staff and young people from the Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak (QATSICPP) will explore with participants a recently created resource Solid Voices of Tomorrow focused on supporting youth voice in service design, evaluation and research. This session will feature a yarning circle and some activities to help those who aren’t so young anymore to put themselves in the shoes of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young person today.

• Samantha Jeffree – Therapeutic Practice Lead (Tangentyere Council)
• Shaunna McDowell – Senior Safe House Carer (Tangentyere Council)

This presentation will track the journey of collective care that the Safe House team embarked on over 2 and a half years through a collection of stories of practice across levels of operation from management through to day-to-day running of the houses. The presentation, supported by a short video, will share the voices and stories of the children and young people and carers that have come through the house during this time and some of the outcomes achieved.

• Tenneil Murray – Program Lead, First Nations and Child Rights Advocacy (Queensland Family and Child Commission)

This presentation will share the views and perspectives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people who have experienced Queensland’s youth justice system. There are a disproportionate representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in the youth justice system therefore opportunities must be provided to allow the voices of those impacted, to be heard and taken into account in decision making.

• TBC

• Kyalie Moore – Private Consultant (Boomerang Consultancy on behalf of No to Violence)
• Joshua Wanganeen – Private Consultant (Dungullah Dreaming on behalf of No to Violence)

The Southern Cross Model was designed to encourage mainstream agencies to deliver more culturally competent services to First Nation men who use family violence against women and children. The content and delivery of the model is through a First Nation lens providing a two way learning platform for both participants and trainers.  This model can also be applied to work with women and children experiencing violence.

• Selina Walker – Ngunnawal
• Thomas Saunders – Wiradjuri and Gunditjmara
• Tanya Chatfield – Wiradjuri
• Valerie Wandin-Gillies – Adnyamathanha
• Deanne Booth – Punthamarra and Gubbi Gubbi
• Dominique McKinnon – Policy Officer (Community Services Directorate, ACT Government)

The Nayi (look at) Ngurungal (tomorrow) Network is a different way of working that brings community voices to a policy table. It sees Aboriginal people impacted by child protection provided with the support and opportunity to work directly with government. Through sharing their stories and using their experiences, members influence policy, practice, and system change. Hear how members work in partnership with government, and about the value and impact of working in this way.

• Kateena Narrier – Cultural Advisor (Yorganop)
• Monique Rampono – Programs Manager Service Delivery (Yorganop)

Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) are uniquely placed to connect with and support parents in identifying safe family members that children can be placed with when entering OOHC, and assist government in placing Aboriginal children in better alignment with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle (ATSICPP).

• Amy Cleland – Aboriginal Strategy and Engagement Lead – Australian Centre for Child Protection, Program Director – Social Science (Human Services), Justice and Society Academic Unit (University of South Australia)

This presentation shares research led by Aboriginal women, to explore the position of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle in the Australian legal system. The research aims to address the best interests of Aboriginal Children in child protection and examines the potential of a decolonising approach in the practices of law and social work. The findings imagine justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

• Lisa Braddick – Nabu Family Preservation and Restoration Team Leader and Caseworker (Waminda – South Coast Women’s Health and Wellbeing Aboriginal Corporation)
• Tammy Osgood – Child and Parenting Support Service (CAPS) Caseworker Coordinator (Waminda – South Coast Women’s Health and Wellbeing Aboriginal Corporation)

This presentation explores key approaches emerging from work with women and their Aboriginal families in the Shoalhaven region of NSW by Waminda, South Coast Women’s Health and Wellbeing Aboriginal Corporation. Waminda’s Model of Care reflects a holistic approach which places women and their Aboriginal families at the centre, supporting their healing journey through a coordinated, wrap-around and strengths-based pathway to services and supports.

• Adele Cox, Eva Ruggiero, Miranda Edwards, Janine Dureau, Sandra Edwards and Anna McCracken – Sector Development Team (SNAICC - National Voice for our Children)

This session will be an interactive yarn with the SNAICC Sector Development team sharing the ways we work with communities that uphold cultural ways of keeping children strong in culture, connection and spirit. Our principles of working aim to honour each community's unique child-rearing practices and integrated service contexts to promote trauma-aware and healing-informed supports. This session will offer practical examples of how co-design can challenge historical power dynamics and ensure community is in control of decisions, processes and outcomes.

• Candice Butler – Director, Innovation and Practice Development (Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Care Peak (QATSICPP))

This session will explore my Churchill Fellowship journey by highlighting key learnings, the challenges and barriers experienced and how we can overcome these challenges and barriers, and the next steps of our journey in reclaiming child protection decision making for our children and families. I will also present an overview of how we can have cultural change within Australia by providing evidenced based means to effect substantive change in legislation, policy, and practice.

• Zoe De Re – Managing Solicitor, Care & Protection (Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) Ltd)

As lawyers for Aboriginal children in care proceedings before the Children’s Court, we are bound by the rules and practices of that Court. Where we are acting in the best interests of Aboriginal children, how are we introducing, elevating and amplifying Aboriginal voices in those proceedings? This paper will examine the extent of our legal and community mandates, the tension between them and whether there should be reconsideration of our roles and responsibilities.

• Lisa Coulson – Northern Regional Manager (Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre), Director (Aboriginal Children’s Centre)
• Wendy Moore – Manager Family and Youth Programs (Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre)

This presentation is a showcase of the holistic model of care that the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre (TAC) provides to Aboriginal children, young people and families including those who have been, or are at risk of, coming into contact with the child protection and safety system.

• Jason Field – CEO (Central Queensland Indigenous Development (CQID))
• Darcy Cavanagh – CEO (REFOCUS Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child & Family Support Services)
• Garth Morgan – CEO (Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak (QATSICPP))

This presentation will share the learnings and experiences in the Queensland community-controlled sector as it embeds Delegated Authority across the State. We will explore the different approaches taken by our early adopter sites, the journey taken to develop our 10-year Blueprint Reclaiming our Storyline: Transforming systems and practice by making decisions in our way, and how through cultural strength and sharing of power we create lifelong positive change for our children, young people and families.

• Dr Wendy Hermeston – Senior Research Fellow - ALIVE National Centre for Mental Health Research Translation, Department of General Practice and Primary Care, Melbourne Medical School (University of Melbourne)
• Dr Terri Libesman – Associate Professor, Faculty of Law (University of Technology Sydney)
• Louise Cody – Principal Solicitor, Care & Protection / Family Law Practice (Aboriginal Legal Service NSW/ACT)
• Eloise Chandler – Research Associate and PhD Candidate, Faculty of Law (University of Technology Sydney)

We discuss our research findings about routine breaching of Aboriginal parents’, families’ and community organisations’ legislative and human rights to participate in significant care decisions in NSW. Interviews with Aboriginal family members, community groups and organisations, lawyers and Children’s Court magistrates revealed a lack of awareness about these rights, how power differentials and racism can interact to influence care decision-making and how care decision-making structures and court processes can undermine participation and obscure Aboriginal families’ strengths.

• Kylie Ponchard – Senior Program Manager (Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA) Nugel)
• Jodie Kinsmore – Program Manager (Bendigo and District Aboriginal Co-operative Mutjang bupuwingarrak mukman Program)

This session will focus on the Community Protecting Boorais Program – an expansion of Aboriginal Children in Aboriginal Care by Nugel (Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency, VACCA) and Wartaka (Bendigo and District Aboriginal Co-operative). The presentation will provide an overview of this ground-breaking new model, centred in culture, self-determination, and human rights – emphasizing how Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations are shifting the language and culture of child protection practice.

• Jamie Sorby – Lecturer, Justice & Society (University Of South Australia)

Positive, strengths-based stories of Aboriginal children growing up in culture needs to be heard, as it will contribute to the change in deficit narratives of Aboriginal Peoples and promote recognition of cultural strengths. This presentation will describe the partnering with a young Aboriginal woman, respectfully and collaboratively, in writing an article for the mainstream environment. The article explores her experiences of neglect and abuse as a child, while sharing the cultural strengths and the impacts these strengths have had on her life and wellbeing. Her story exemplifies how kinship and community helped her overcome the impacts inflicted on her family from colonisation in light of family violence, neglect and trauma. Co-authors: Dr. Fiona Buchanan, and Ms Amelia Smith (pseudonym).

• Joanne Della Bona – CEO, Coolabaroo (Moorditch Gurlongga Association Inc)
• Emily Armstrong – Senior Policy and Research Officer (SNAICC - National Voice for our Children)

The structure of Government funding is a well-known barrier to holistic service delivery for ACCOs. Funding silos reduce flexibility and impede ACCOs’ ability to deliver services that work best for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families. The Stronger Families, Stronger ACCOs project aimed to extend the evidence on the strengths of ACCOs as providers of these services, the barriers to accessing funding and identify unmet needs and opportunities for reform.

• Michelle Rogers – Partnerships and Engagement Manager (Ngunya Jarjum Child and Family Network)
• Michele Laurie – Targeted Early intervention and Partnerships Worker (Ngunya Jarjum Child and Family Network)

Self-determination and empowerment - overused words in legislation and policy – they rarely transfer to action for community, because systemic oppression buffers ability.  Systems oppress – oppression disempowers – disempowerment causes dependence and dependence feeds systemic intervention (oppression). The cycle is self-fulfilling. Our presentation will share some of our experiences of community led, family centred practices where there is genuine connection to traditional ways of knowing, being and doing. We make self-determination and empowerment more than words.

• Marissa Balch – First Nations Lead, First Nations and Child Rights Advocacy (Queensland Family and Child Commission)
• Ashum Owen – Principle Policy, Research and Advocacy Officer (Office of the Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People South Australia)

This presentation will share the methodology of monitoring over-representation of Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the child protection system and the dual accountability of First Nations Children’s Commissioners and Guardians. It will discuss the work of dedicated First Nations Children’s Commissioners and Guardians in Queensland and South Australia in monitoring and publicly reporting on overrepresentation and their accountability to First Nations children, young people, families, and communities.

• Cherisse Buzzacott – Head of Health & Wellbeing (Children's Ground)
• Amunda Gorey – Co-coordinator of Research & Evaluation (Children’s Ground)

This session will present research processes and findings of Arrernte cultural knowledge and practices from interviews with Arrernte and First Nations women to understand their experience of current western MCH services. This cultural mapping around MCH was seen as a priority for the continuation of culture and the strengthening of practices & sharing knowledge with little ones to better empower their journey to long and healthy futures.

• Mandy Collie – Practice and Implementation Lead for the PFF program (Rumbalara and Ozchild)
• Chris Russell – PFF Program Manager (Rumbalara)

Our presentation will include a short power point explaining what the PFF program is about, our target cohort and how the program is structured regarding the consortium and interdisciplinary teams. Following this we will present a case study and a short sound/video clip by a community member that has been supported through the PFF program and how this has changed their outcomes.

• Rohan Collard  – CEO (Dooga Waalitj Healing)
• Dawn Wallam – CEO (Yorganop)

This presentation explores how transforming the cultural safety and experience of children engaged with child protection services can lead to rebuilding cultural identity, resilience and connection back to Community, Culture and Kin for young Yorga’s (girls) and Nop’s (boys) who have been in Out of Home Care. The Nitja Yorga Nop Bidi Koort Mia Cultural Framework embraces the Journey with our Yorga’s and Nop’s in an equal partnership as we dabakaarn koolingy (walk together) towards interdependence in recognition of an enduring connection to people, community, and culture.

• Nerita Waight – Chief Executive Officer (Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service)
• Anna Gibson – Legislative Reform Project Executive Advisor (Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA))

Treaty and truth-telling in Victoria presents significant opportunity for transformational change in the child protection system including new legislation that’s designed & delivered by Aboriginal communities and is exclusively for Aboriginal children. VALS is calling for new legislation developed by/for Aboriginal Communities based on what WE know is best for our children. Legislation that is strengths-based, culturally-safe and self-determined, not built on a legacy of dispossession, forced removal and racism in the guise of protection.

• Evelyn Djotja – SCfC Local Community Board Member, Program Impact Officer/Researcher (Yalu Aboriginal Corporation)
• Jerome Lacey – SCfC Local Community Board Member/Emerging Leader, Support Worker (Yalu Aboriginal Corporation)
• Anahita Tonkin – CEO (Yalu Aboriginal Corporation)
• Daphne Daniels – Chair (Strongbala Pipul Wanbala Bois Komiti (SCfC Local Community Board)), Deputy Chair (Yugul Mangi Development Aboriginal Corporation)
• Ian Gumbala – Former Cultural Governance Manager (Yugul Mangi Development Aboriginal Corporation)
• Julie-ann Bassinder – Former Director of Social Services (Yugul Mangi Development Aboriginal Corporation)
• Allison Stewart – SCfC Program Manager (National Indigenous Australians Agency)
• Moderated By: Hyemi Jacka – SCfC Program Manager (Ninti One Limited)

SCfC Local Community Board (LCB) members will share their journey along with their partners (Aboriginal organisations and government staff). The presentation will cover the importance of cultural authority in SCfC governance, the steps they had taken, what worked and did not work as expected, lessons learned and the real changes they have made in the lives of children and young people. The audience will gain first-hand knowledge about cultural authority and how this can be realised in a government-funded program, and will be able to seek empirical guidance from SCfC LCB members.

• Dr Elise Hilder – Research Officer (CREATE Foundation)
• Brooke Oliver – CREATE Young Consultant (CREATE Foundation)

It’s so different to see kids who connect with country; it’s a different lens… why can’t we do it in care? Decolonising Out-of-Home Care for First Nations young people begins by listening to their stories. In South Australia, experiences of removal and placement were shared with CREATE. Conversations ranged from not having “an Aboriginal presence in my corner,” to imagining what genuine healing and connection might look like through the presence of more Nunga workers, community expertise, and Grandmother’s Law.

• Aboriginal Peak Organisations NT (APO NT)

APO NT will provide an update on work underway for action plan 1 – “Planting the Seeds 2023-2025”.  The presentation will focus on the perspective of the community sector and will reflect on the health and strength of the partnerships with the Northern Territory and Commonwealth governments to undertake this work. APO NTs presentation is not intended to represent the views of the Northern Territory or Commonwealth government partners to the Strategy.

• TBC

• Tyrelle Smith – Community Engagement Officer (Townsville Aboriginal and Islanders Health Service (TAIHS))
• Patricia Hunt – Family Wellbeing Worker (Townsville Aboriginal and Islanders Health Service (TAIHS))

Our service will present tools and strategies we use that strengthens the safety and wellbeing of our children, raised within family and culture throughout our everyday roles and responsibilities. We will highlight the importance of family kinship roles and responsibilities and show how they can be recognised and acknowledged by all services and support systems, whilst ensuring Integrated Service Delivery is at the forefront within the health and community sector when supporting First Nations people.

• Gretchen Young – National Project Manager, Connected Beginnings & CCCFR (SNAICC - National Voice for our Children)
• Mike Jackson – Director, Connected Beginnings Program (Department of Education)

The Connected Beginnings program has significantly expanded and this interactive session will provide insights into place-based approaches across Australia, findings from community consultation processes in remote, regional and urban locations and will outline the important work of transitioning back-bone organisations across to the Aboriginal Community Controlled sector. We will discuss place-based approaches to community engagement, partnerships and innovative Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander models of leadership and governance.

• Helen Westbury – Executive Manager,  (Yalu Aboriginal Corporation)
• Jasmine Yunupingu – Acting Program Manager (Yalu Aboriginal Corporation) Board Member (Yalu Aboriginal Corporation), Emerging Leader
• Jermaine Dhurrkay – Support Worker (Yalu Aboriginal Corporation), LCB Member, Emerging Leader

The challenges of delivering child protection work with Yolngu families where English is not readily understood and the need for cultural sensitivity is a priority along with the safety of the child/children.

• Virginia (Jinni) Dingo – Cultural Practice Leader (Yorganop)
• Chipo Nchimunya – Senior Programs Officer (Yorganop)

Why cultural safety is just as important as any other consideration when making a permanent care order and the role of an ACCO in providing the Court with a report detailing the cultural safety and responsiveness of an OOHC placement before permanent placement orders are made.

• Glenda Kickett – CEO (Karla Kuliny Aboriginal Corporation)
• Shaun Chandran – Manager Therapeutic Services WA (Australian Childhood Foundation)
• Janise Mitchell – Deputy CEO (Australian Childhood Foundation)

This presentation explores the partnership journey between Karla Kuliny Aboriginal Corporation (KKAC) and the Australian Childhood Foundation (ACF). Over the last 12 years, both organisations have developed a model of out of home care that is culturally strong and trauma-informed. They have developed this approach with a shared purpose and dedication to advocating for, supporting, healing and empowering Aboriginal children and families, which has enabled each organisation to bring their knowledges together in practice.

• Meg Hewett – Director (Connected Beginnings Galiwin’ku)
• Danny Daŋadaŋa – Community Engagement Leader (Connected Beginnings Galiwin’ku)

In 2022, the Galiwin’ku Child Circle embarked on a journey of deep listening to understand the real pathway for a Galiwin’ku child – pathway that begins at conception through to the commencement of school. We would like to share our journey as we worked together to understand the many pathways of a Galiwin’ku child and how this process of deep listening highlighted areas of need, collective strength and community aspiration that informed our next steps as the Child Circle.

• Verity Roennfeldt – Director Cultural Practice Development (Department of Communities WA)
• Janine Nannup – Aboriginal Practice Leader (Department of Communities WA)
• Lauren Lawrence – Aboriginal Cultural Space Project Coordinator (Department of Communities WA)
• Mrs. Eliza Woods – Noongar Elder, Menang Goreng Country, Great Southern Region, Albany WA
• Dr Kelly Thompson – Principal Practitioner, Clinical Psychologist (MacKillop Family Services, WA/NT)

This interactive Yarning Circle launches Wonky’s Yarn, the 12^th publication in the Story Animal Yarn Book series.  Menang Noongar Elder Aunty Eliza Woods, Verity, Lauren, Janine and Kelly share their journey of collaboration, creativity and love of textiles to connect children, families and culture. Participants can choose a mindful project while learning about the Story Animal characters. The books use metaphorical situations to explore ‘tough stuff’ that lead children and those around them to experience big emotions.

• Dr Jacynta Krakouer – UniSA, Professor Catherine Chamberlain (The University of Melbourne)

This presentation discusses a co-design research project to develop a culturally-safe ‘Wise Counsel’ model of care to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families at risk of infant removal by child protection. Led by a team of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers, and supported by an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Leadership Group, this model aims to centre Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing to create a meaningful support to prevent infant removal.

• Lisa Thorpe – CEO (Bubup Wilam Aboriginal Child And Family Centre)
• Worrin Williams – Deputy CEO (Bubup Wilam Aboriginal Child And Family Centre)
• Leann Graham – Early Years Manager (Bubup Wilam Aboriginal Child And Family Centre)
• Jade Young – Team Leader Health and Wellbeing Unit (Bubup Wilam Aboriginal Child And Family Centre)

This presentation will be about the development and successes of Bubup Wilam over the past ten years. We fought against the odds and held our ground. Bubup Wilam is an authentic self-determining Aboriginal Community Controlled Early Years organisation. Through development our own programs and working with strengths of our children and families, we are leading the way and measuring our own successes through the strengths of our families – we are Closing the Gap.

• Catherine Liddle – CEO, SNAICC - National Voice for our Children)
• Paul Gray – Co-Chair (National Family Matters Leadership Group)

The Family Matters National Reflective Practice Tool was developed for signatories to the national Family Matters campaign to identify their strengths and challenges in implementing the campaign principles and to identify activities to achieve the campaign vision and target. This presentation will discuss Queensland Family Matters’ recent phased trials using the tool, implementation, and recommendations for further development of the tool. It will also discuss SNAICC’s recent Family Matters report, which outline current developments and the solutions that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have called for.

• Dr Wendy Hermeston – Senior Research Fellow, ALIVE National Centre for Mental Health Research Translation, Department of General Practice and Primary Care, Melbourne Medical School (University of Melbourne)
• Belinda Kendall – Chief Executive Officer (Curijo)
• Tina McGhie – Operations Manager (Curijo)

The “best interests of the child” is a fundamental standard in child protection and family law. Every day, judges determine care matters based on the notion. Yet there’s little evidence about what best interests means to First Peoples. We share Aboriginal community member understandings of best interests, gathered from yarning circles held as part of a small PhD study in metropolitan NSW. We then talk about implications of the findings and possible applications in practice.

• Tina King (Koori Services Coordinator, Children’s Court of Victoria)
• Liz Langdon (Magistrate, Children’s’ Court of Victoria)

In 2016 the Children's Court of Victoria became the first Australian court to establish a Koori Family Hearing Day that utilises culturally informed decision-making processes to enable greater family participation, known as Marram-Ngala Ganbu (MNG). Following an independent evaluation in 2019, the Children’s Court expanded MNG to a rural location - the Shepparton Law Courts. This presentation will provide an understanding of the MNG model and detail the steps taken to adapt the MNG model to a new, regional location.