Western Australia has a solution to what is being headlined as the current crisis in Aboriginal child protection. The WA government made a commitment four years ago to developing a road map to address the over-representation of Aboriginal children in the state’s child protection system, and reduce the number of Aboriginal children entering care.
Unfortunately, it’s been sitting on a shelf in a government office for three years. The WA Roadmap: 10-Year Roadmap Project to Reduce the Number of Aboriginal Children in Care was commissioned by the government in 2022, and delivered by SNAICC in September 2023.
The road map is a comprehensive way forward, to address key drivers of children coming into contact with the child protection system – poverty, housing insecurity and homelessness, family and domestic violence, a lack of culturally appropriate family-support services, and institutional racism.
But the government mothballed its own report, ignoring the recommendations developed by the state’s Aboriginal community and its years of expertise, while Aboriginal children continue to be at risk. The government has never even made a formal response to the report.
More than 200 stakeholders from across the state contributed to the landmark report, with local voices and expertise contributing to local solutions. What came through loud and clear was the need to involve Aboriginal children, families and communities when decisions are being made about the safety of our young people.
Developing and strengthening Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisation services was seen as the key to the government meeting its commitment to reducing the over-representation of children in out-of-home care. But Aboriginal services and families in WA are still waiting on this commitment.
The Roadmap was designed to drive change so WA meets its commitment under the Closing the Gap Agreement to reduce the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care by 45 per cent by 2031.
WA has the highest over-representation rate of Indigenous children receiving child protection services in the country, almost 18 times as many as non-Indigenous children. WA also has the lowest proportion of expenditure on Family Support Services and Intensive Family Support Services of any jurisdiction, at just 4.4 per cent of the child protection budget.
Put simply, WA has the worst over-representation outcomes in the country, the lowest investment in prevention/early intervention, no independent accountability mechanism for Aboriginal children, and has stalled on delivering a road map it co-designed with community.
So forgive me if I’m slightly cynical about the sudden flurry of interest in Port Hedland’s children. Child protection systems across the country are failing and they are particularly failing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
This is not because their families love them less. It is because successive governments have refused to listen to those families and invest in community solutions. The situation in Port Hedland is an example of a failure to invest in family supports and services that make a difference, such as housing, drug and alcohol, health and education. As WA Commissioner for Children Jacqueline McGowan-Jones has said, this is a failure of entire systems.
It’s a national disgrace that in a town with one of the highest median incomes in Australia, there are children living in abject poverty, at enormous risk. It is even more disgraceful when the Aboriginal community has been crying out to be heard about this for so long.
National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Sue-Anne Hunter is in WA hearing from children, families and services. I look forward to what I know will be her insightful and community-informed recommendations.
And I look forward to governments taking action on these and many other recommendations. Because all Australian children deserve to grow up safe and nurtured, in an environment where they can grow and thrive.
Originally published in the Australian on October 7
Read the op-ed here