Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle

Placing children in out-of-home care in accordance with the established Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle placement hierarchy.

The Placement element of the Child Placement Principle sets a hierarchy of preferred placement options for carers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care. The placement hierarchy is designed to ensure the highest possible level of connection to family, community, culture and country is maintained for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child in out-of-home care.

The placement hierarchy is as follows:

1. With Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander or non-Indigenous relatives or extended family members (kin)
2. With Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of the child’s community
3. With Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander family-based carers

The 3 options above are preferred placement types. If these preferred options are not available, as a last resort, the child may be placed in:

4. Another care arrangement (such as with a non-Indigenous carer or in a residential setting).

If the child is not placed with their relatives or kin (that is, level 1 in the placement hierarchy), the placement should be within close geographic proximity to the child’s family.

View current Placement indicators.

Maintaining and supporting connections to family, community, culture and country for children in out-of-home care.

The Connection element of the Child Placement Principle relates to support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care to maintain or re-establish connections to their family, community, culture and country. This element is considered especially relevant for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children placed with non-Indigenous carers.

Connection covers a broad range of actions and supports that can facilitate the maintenance or re-establishment of connection to culture and can be measured by reporting on children in out-of-home care living with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander carers.

View current Connection indicators.

Protecting children’s rights to grow up in family, community and culture by redressing causes of child protection intervention.

The Prevention element of the Child Placement Principle relates to supporting families and building capacity in communities to care safely for their children. This will protect future generations from the devastating effects of removal from family, community, culture and country. To protect the rights of children to be brought up in their families, it is necessary to ensure that families have equitable access to quality service supports.

The service supports include:

• a full range of culturally safe universal early childhood, education, health and other social services
• targeted and intensive supports to address issues in family functioning, promote healing, and address specific parental issues including trauma, substance misuse, mental health issues, family violence and poverty
• adequate and appropriate housing
• culturally safe family violence prevention, legal and support services
• alternative intake and referral pathways to early intervention prior to families engaging with child protection systems
• an integrated and holistic service system that provides vulnerable families with the opportunity to readily engage with the full range of culturally safe service supports they require.

Prevention indicators are currently under development.

Ensuring the participation of community representatives in service design, delivery and individual case decisions.

The Partnership element of the Child Placement Principle ensures that participation extends beyond consultation to genuine inclusion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community representatives in the decisions that are made about children at all stages of child and family welfare decision-making.

Protecting the rights of representative participation requires:

• coverage and capacity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations to lead holistic, integrated prevention, early intervention and out-of-home care service delivery based on their knowledge of local needs
• resourced roles to inform the design of child and family welfare policy and service models at local, state and federal levels
• a resourced legislative role for participation in all child protection decisions
• empowering community-based organisations to facilitate family decision-making processes for all families where child safety concerns are identified
• supporting community-based representative child safety structures to promote safety and wellbeing, input to decision-making about the welfare of children and families, and drive local early intervention and prevention strategies
• building capacity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and professionals in the sector to deliver the full range of services required
• ensuring adequate, culturally safe legal representation opportunities.

Partnership indicators are currently under development.

Ensuring the participation of children, parents and family members in decisions regarding the safety, belonging and wellbeing of their children.

The Partnership element of the Child Placement Principle ensures the participation of children, parents and family members in decisions regarding the care and protection of their children. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families have the best knowledge about the caring strengths and risks that exist in their own families and communities. Involving family members in decision-making can help to widen circles of support for parents and children, identify placement options with family and community and ensure families take responsibility for plans to address safety concerns that are of their own making.

Participation indicators are currently under development.