Family Matters Report 2024
Family Matters – Strong communities. Strong culture. Stronger children. annual report examines what governments are doing to turn the tide on over-representation and the outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. It highlights Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led solutions and calls on governments to support and invest in the strengths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to lead in child wellbeing, development and safety responses for our children.
Family Matters’ goal is to see Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people grow up safe and cared for in family, community and culture. Family Matters aims to eliminate the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care within a generation (by 2040). Family Matters is led by SNAICC – National Voice for our Children and a group of eminent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders from across the country who form the Family Matters Leadership Group.
Foreword by Family Matters co-chairs
It is with great respect and recognition of the strength of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities that we present the 2024 Family Matters report.
Since 2016, the Family Matters report has given voice to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and their experiences of child protection systems across Australia, their anguish at the ongoing over-representation and the associated harms experienced by children, families and communities underlying these numbers, and their hopes for change.
The statistics show that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are grossly over-represented at every stage of the child protection system. More concerning, that over-representation grows as interventions become more intrusive. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are 5.6 times more likely than non-Indigenous children to be subject to a child protection notification, but 10.8 times more likely than non-Indigenous children to be in out-of-home care (OOHC) or subject to a third-party parental responsibility order. This raises community concerns that governments must do more to address the disproportionate burden of social determinants associated with child protection involvement experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander families. Also, it is clear that the way these systems respond to notifications is less effective at diverting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families from more intrusive interventions. That is, inequitable outcomes continue to be inherent to child protection systems and practice nationally.
And it’s getting worse. Since 2019, the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in OOHC has worsened, rising from 54.2 to 57.2 per 1,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in 2023. The Productivity Commission estimates that by 2031 the rate will be 63 per 1000 children. We continue to be desperately far off course from meeting Target 12 of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap (the National Agreement) to reduce this rate by 45% by 2031, just as governments continue to delay in enacting the Family Matters Building Blocks and the Priority Reforms of the National Agreement.
We know that the ongoing widespread removal of children from their families is not a solution. In fact, people who were removed from their families as children face a higher likelihood of child protection involvement when they become parents. We know there are risks associated with the decision to remove a child from their family — risks that are seldom considered when those decisions are made. This system ultimately steals the future of many of our children, disconnecting them from their families, communities, culture and Country—those things that give us strength and belonging. Too frequently, experiences of removal lead to criminalisation and incarceration.
It is clear that the business-as-usual approach of government is failing our communities. The Productivity Commission’s first of its three-yearly reviews of the National Agreement, released in February 2024, was blunt in its assessment that, without fundamental change, the National Agreement will fail. Governments need to move out of old mindsets and embrace power-sharing arrangements.
The Family Matters Building Blocks provide a roadmap for governments to undertake the essential task of unravelling these harmful systems, through greater authority and investment into Aboriginal community-controlled approaches. Our communities know best what is needed to keep our children healthy, safe and together with families. We have the biggest stake in their futures.
The solutions are clear and have been called for by community for decades. SNAICC – National Voice for our Children (SNAICC) welcomed the announcement in February 2024 that the Australian Government would establish a National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families. This has been a prominent recommendation of the Family Matters Report since 2020, and we are pleased that the government has taken this long-overdue action. The National Commissioner will be a champion, voice and facilitator for our children, young people and families. Someone who will stand up for their rights and interests and hold governments and organisations to account.
A dedicated National Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families, with strong powers to independently investigate issues and make informed recommendations to promote our children’s rights and wellbeing, will be a catalyst for the transformational change our children need and deserve. We need to see this commitment implemented and underpinned by strong legislation that aligns with the international gold standard for rights-based accountability and oversight, as well as similar roles established in every jurisdiction.
Increased and ongoing investment in and implementation of Safe and Supported: the National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2021–2031 (Safe and Supported) is also a key pathway to change. Safe and Supported represents a groundbreaking commitment to shared decision-making between our leaders and governments. It has been designed with us and stands to be a gamechanger if governments embrace and enact its plan of action. Early signs have been positive with initial progress on implementation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander First Action Plan 2023–26 of Safe and Supported, but more urgency for action is needed.
Alongside governments, we also need to see strong action from non-Indigenous non-government organisations within the child and family sector. These organisations continue to play an oversized role in delivering services to our children and families; services that evidence shows have a greater impact if delivered by our community-controlled organisations. As such, non-Indigenous organisations have a major role to play in transitioning opportunity and resources to our Aboriginal community-controlled organisations (ACCOs), so our children can be supported and cared for by mob. The recent Allies for Children public commitment in September 2024 to ensure all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in OOHC will be cared for by the community-controlled sector is a welcome step.
At a state and territory level, there have been some improvements that should be highlighted. Jurisdictions including the Australian Capital Territory and South Australia are making further progress towards embedding requirements for authorities to make active efforts to implement the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle, alongside New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland.
Victoria’s landmark truth-telling Yoorrook Justice Commission has heard evidence from survivors of the child protection system, with critical recommendations for transformational change including substantially increased investment in community-led prevention and early intervention services. In Queensland, delegation of authority for child protection functions to ACCOs continues to expand at a promising pace.
In contrast, we’ve seen regressive policy steps across jurisdictions that run counter to the wellbeing of our children and young people. Recent announcements from the Northern Territory of an intention to further criminalise vulnerable children, and from Victoria to walk back commitments made to raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 by 2027, as well as changes to bail and remand in Queensland and New South Wales raise concern, anger and frustration within our communities. These changes are not backed by evidence and will not make communities safer. We continue to witness the anguish caused by harmful youth justice policies and failures of OOHC systems in the poor outcomes experienced by our young people, as well as too many young lives taken too soon.
We know that children will flourish when we invest in families and communities, supporting the safe and enriching environments needed for development and life-long wellbeing. It is a shared responsibility that we address the disparities inherent within these systems presented in this report. The Family Matters Building Blocks, as well as the National Agreement and its Priority Reforms, provide clear guidance on how this can be achieved. This is only if governments have the courage to change course, to redirect investment from government-led business as usual that continues to fail to deliver for our children and families, and instead invest in our children’s futures through solutions that are led by community and will actually work to keep Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families, safe and strong in community and culture.
– Catherine Liddle and Dr Paul Gray