Profiling Promising Programs: Promising Practices in Out-of-Home Care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Carers, Children and Young People

Booklet 1: Characteristics of promising Indigenous out-of-home care programs and services

Introduction

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to suffer the intergenerational effects of past welfare practices including the forced removal of their children and dislocation from their communities, country and culture. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people also experience higher levels of poverty and social disadvantage than non-Indigenous Australians. The combined effects of past practices and current disadvantages present Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities with extreme challenges in supporting families to ensure children stay safe and are cared for appropriately.

Bringing Them Home, the Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families reported that: ‘Between 1 in 3 and 1 in 10 Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families from 1910 to 1970 … [M]ost families have been affected, in one or more generations, by the forcible removal of one or more children.’

The inquiry found that some of the underlying causes for the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care include:

• the legacy of past policies of cultural assimilation;
• the intergenerational effects of forced removals;
• poverty;
• cultural differences in child-rearing.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are almost five times more likely to be placed in out-of-home care compared with non-Indigenous children (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2007). Yet there is a serious shortage of culturally appropriate placements to accommodate them. Even with intensive recruitment efforts, professionals have been unable to recruit sufficient Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander carers to meet the demand.

Project background

Phase 1: Identifying Strengths and Barriers

In 2005, the National Child Protection Clearinghouse, at the Australian Institute of Family Studies, was commissioned by the Australian Council for Children and Parenting’s (ACCAP) Children at risk Committee, to conduct:

• A literature review titled The Recruitment, Retention and Support of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Foster Carers: A Literature Review. (Richardson, Bromfield, & Higgins, 2005); and
• Interviews and focus groups with professionals from government, non-government and Indigenous organisations, as well as carers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people in care titled Enhancing Out-of-Home Care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Young People.

In the interviews and focus groups, participants were asked to talk about what they thought were barriers to recruiting, assessing, training and supporting carers and young people, and the strategies that worked well. The project was funded by the Australian Government Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FACSIA).

Professionals, carers and young people told us of barriers and gaps in program and service delivery, and identified ineffective practices such as culturally inappropriate assessment tools and training programs. The participants highlighted the need to develop more effective and culturally relevant recruitment, assessment and training strategies. Carers also told us they needed more support in a range of areas such as dealing with state and territory child protection departments, and caring for children with increasingly complex needs. Young people told us they wanted more connection with their family and communities while in care. Importantly, the participants also identified examples of promising practice in the field, where effective and culturally relevant strategies had been developed to overcome barriers in these areas.

Phase 2: Profiling Promising Programs

In response to the needs identified by the participants, and guided by the examples of promising practice they shared with us, FACSIA funded the Australian Institute of Family Studies to extend the program to profile promising practices in out-of-home care (this phase of the project is referred to as phase 2: profiling promising programs). In mid-2006, the Australian Institute of Family Studies, in collaboration with SNAICC, profiled promising programs and services across Australia in order to disseminate the information to other professionals in the out-of-home care sector.