SNAICC strengthens Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s wellbeing by supporting and strengthening community-led childhood services, addressing sector challenges and celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and culture.
SNAICC is proudly the National Voice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. The peak body was created in 1981 by community to advance the rights and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, families and communities.
We work to see Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children grow up healthy, happy and safe; strong in their identity and connected to culture and Country.
Our work is guided by the voices of Aboriginal community-controlled organisations (ACCO) sector across the country who are the experts when to comes to the needs of our children, young people and families.
We work to ensure their voices are heard in rooms where key decisions are made, bringing their experience and expertise to influence decisions that directly affect them. Ideally, this means working in partnership with governments and non-Indigenous organisations, making sure our voices lead conversations and inform decisions about us.
We also work to ensure that ACCO early childhood education and care (ECEC) services are fully supported to support children and families to thrive. ACCO ECEC services go beyond mainstream approaches when it comes to early learning, offering holistic, culturally safe supports that nurtures every aspect of a child’s growth.
The core of our work will always be to strive towards a future where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are thriving, connected to their culture, their community and their identity.
Why community-led early childhood education and care works
What makes an ACCO ECEC service different to a mainstream ECEC service?
If you enter an ACCO ECEC service, you will see and hear culture all around you. You’ll see traditional language featured, an Acknowledgement of Country placed at the entrance, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags flying in the wind. Children are laughing, playing and often talking and singing in their traditional language, thriving in an environment that celebrates culture and encourages them to walk proudly in their identity.
These services are trusted by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families because they know their child is receiving care by someone in their community that is informed by culture and ways of knowing, being and doing. Very often, it might be a child’s family member working at a service with generations of family attending and working at the Centre.
Their values are embedded in 65,000 years of knowledge and structures that have successfully raised Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. They understand that community is key when raising a child, and their ways of working reflect the same care, support and cultural enrichment that families provide. Through holistic wraparound supports that nurture the growth, identity and development of a child, the ACCO services cover areas such as health, social, emotional and cultural development so that our young ones have the best opportunity to flourish during their early years.
This support even goes beyond the child and extends to the family and kinship network. Through community events and further supports for parents and families, these services aim to strengthen family connections through a child’s early learning journey. An ACCO ECEC service delivers early education guided by a family- and community-centred approach that keeps families strong.
A little support goes a long way
ACCO ECEC services weave culture into every aspect of their approach, which means they often don’t fit into the typical mould of mainstream early learning services and the structures that shape government policy. They are community-led, facing challenges that are often driven by complex and ever-changing policy requirements, limited funding and workforce shortages. These challenges are felt throughout our whole sector and require more support to address them.
At SNAICC, we understand these complexities and the need for assistance in navigating them, leading to the development of our Early Years Support (EYS) program. Operating in three states, the EYS program is designed to address local needs, focusing on strengthening different areas of service delivery through improving service design and governance, enhancing quality standards, and supporting workforce development and training.
The program was established to provide “head-office” style support many mainstream services rely on, so that ACCO services are adequately supported to deliver improved outcomes for children and their families. One example of the impact of EYS is Birrelee MACS, an ACCO ECEC based in Tamworth NSW which is supported by the NSW arm of EYS. As Rachael Phillips, Director of Birrelee MACS puts it: “SNAICC has been our peak body for nearly 40 of our 50 years of operation, consistently engaging and responding to our needs through advocacy and creating opportunities for services like ours.”
“The NSW EYS, as an extension of SNAICC, brings a more tailored and reflective approach to supporting ACCOs.”
A day to celebrate our children
At SNAICC, we celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children every day by championing their rights, culture, and potential in everything we do. We believe that the whole country should too.
That’s why, over 35 years ago, our leaders established August 4th as the day to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day is focused on the strengths and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from right across the country.
It’s an opportunity to turn the spotlight on our children and celebrate them for who they are, their strengths, ambitions and what they represent as the bearers of the world’s oldest living culture.
Hundreds of early year services, education centres, organisations and communities across Australia host Children’s Day events in early August every year, holding celebrations that are embedded in culture and community. Among these celebrations, SNAICC partners with an ACCO ECEC service to help them celebrate. We call this the Children’s Day hero event.
In 2025, SNAICC joined in on the celebrations on Gumbaynggir Country/Coffs Harbour at Kulai Preschool where we were welcomed to celebrate in amongst the community.
As Julie Carey, Director of Kulai Preschool shared, “The day was celebrated bringing families and communities together from all over the region. Our local Gumbaynggirr Giingana Freedom School, Nambucca Heads Giiguy Gamambi Preschool and Grafton’s Gummyaney Preschool families and communities came along to participate and celebrate on Gumbaynggirr Country.
The children participated in a variety of activities including Gumbaynggirr language music and dance, clay moulding, beading, face painting, shared stories and a beautiful lunch of freshly cooked kangaroo, seafood chowder, fresh damper and BBQ followed by a variety of natural berry ice creams off the ice cream truck.”
Children’s Day celebrations across the country are a powerful reminder of the richness, strength and resilience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and the communities that support them. By celebrating their culture, their stories, and their potential, we are honouring the past while simultaneously investing in a future where these children are given the best opportunity to thrive and lead.
A commitment to building a brighter future for our children
SNAICC is committed to creating lasting change for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families, reflecting the priorities and voice of our sector and communities. The work we do today is rooted in the vision SNAICC leaders set over 40 years ago: To ensure that every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child has the best possible start in life.
This op-ed was originally published here