{"id":2284,"date":"2020-03-05T13:49:15","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T03:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/gci-insights\/?p=2284"},"modified":"2020-03-06T09:55:04","modified_gmt":"2020-03-05T23:55:04","slug":"more-data-transparency-is-needed-about-the-number-of-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-children-in-out-of-home-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/gci-insights\/2020\/03\/05\/more-data-transparency-is-needed-about-the-number-of-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-children-in-out-of-home-care\/","title":{"rendered":"More data transparency is needed about the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Clare Tilbury<\/a>* and Natalie Lewis**<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nrecent years, Australian state and territory governments have made changes to\nchild protection laws and policies that aim to increase the number of permanency\norders (including adoptions), and limit timeframes for family reunification for\nchildren living in out-of-home care. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Permanency\norders transfer parenting responsibility for the child to another person until\nthe child turns 18 years. Permanent carers hold the same rights and\nresponsibilities as a parent for the child. In most jurisdictions, birth\nparents cannot regain custody of their children even if their situation has\nimproved. These orders differ from traditional child protection orders where\nparents have recourse to apply to the courts to have their children returned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stated<\/a> policy intent of\npermanency orders is to promote stability and security for children in out-of-home\ncare.  In most jurisdictions, when\nchildren are adopted or placed on permanent care orders, the involvement of the\nchild protection agency ceases. Thus, the new arrangements reduce the financial\ncost of out-of-home care because foster care allowances and other supports are\nno longer provided by government, and child protection workers cease monitoring\nthe quality of care. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impacts of the changes on\nAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As\noutlined the 2019 Family Matters<\/a> report, Aboriginal and\nTorres Strait Islander children are seven times more likely to be on a\npermanent care order than non-Indigenous children in care, and most adoptions\nof Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were to non-Indigenous\ncarers. Such placements will not achieve the desired goal of stability,\nespecially as children enter adolescence and adulthood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The permanency orders<\/a> risk severing the ties\nof Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children to their cultures and\ncommunities, especially when the placement is with non-Indigenous carers and the\nchild protection agency has no obligation to support cultural connections. These\nare vitally important for all children\u2019s development, and Aboriginal and Torres\nStrait Islander children also have rights<\/a> in international law to\nconnection with their culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Regardless of the intentions of permanent care orders, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, they present distressing reminders of the Stolen Generations. The 1997 Bringing them Home<\/a> <\/em>report detailed the devastating, lifelong impacts experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities as a result of widespread child removals. Research<\/a> about intergenerational impacts has found Stolen Generations descendants experience very high levels of vulnerability across a range of health and wellbeing indicators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evidence<\/a> indicates that true\npermanency requires stability<\/a>, security, a sense of\npersonal and cultural identity, and positive, caring, ongoing relationships. The rationale<\/a> underlying permanent\ncare orders is the sooner a legal a carer is established, that great stability\noccurs which is a better outcome for a child\u2019s wellbeing. This understanding<\/a> is flawed in its\nfailure to recognise that children in out-of-home care already have a sense of\nidentity that is grounded in their experiences of cultural, family and\ncommunity connections. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Permanent\ncare orders also decrease child protection statistics that generate controversy\nand embarrassment for governments. Multiple inquiries into child protection\nsystems have called on governments to act to reduce the over-representation of\nAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in care.  But NSW, Victoria and WA now exclude children\non permanent care orders from their out-of-home care population counts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nimpacts of these changes to counting rules are not abstract. They matter for\nour most vulnerable children and young people, including the 2634<\/a> Aboriginal and Torres\nStrait Islander children and young people who were not counted in the official out-of-home\ncare data last year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What should be changed<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Family\nMatters<\/a>\nis Australia\u2019s national campaign to ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait\nIslander children and young people grow up safe and cared for in family,\ncommunity, and culture. Since 2016, the campaign has released an annual report that\nexamines how Australia is faring in improving outcomes for Aboriginal and\nTorres Strait Islander children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The safety and wellbeing of children is the priority, and\nin some cases, children must be placed out of home. This should not come at the\ncost of their right to know and experience connections to family and culture. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Family Matters campaign recommends an end to legal\norders for the permanent care and adoption of Aboriginal and Torres Strait\nIslander children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It calls on all governments to work with Aboriginal\nand Torres Strait Islander people to design alternative policies that support\nstability and belonging for our children and young people. A crucial element of\nthis redesign is meaningful efforts to focus policy and investment on early\nintervention, family support, and reunification. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

* Leneen Forde Chair of Child and Family Research, School of Human Services and Social Work at Griffith University and member of the Griffith Criminology Institute<\/p>\n\n\n\n

** CEO of the Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak, Co-chair of the Family Matters campaign, and Adjunct Research Fellow at Griffith University,.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Clare Tilbury* and Natalie Lewis** In recent years, Australian state and territory governments have made changes to child protection laws and policies that aim to increase the number of permanency orders (including adoptions), and limit timeframes for family reunification for children living in out-of-home care. Permanency orders transfer parenting responsibility for the child toContinue reading “More data transparency is needed about the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":2285,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[96,2,89],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-closing-the-gap","category-spotlights","category-youth-justice"],"acf":[],"modified_by":"Keiran Hardy","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/gci-insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2020\/03\/Family-Matters-Report-square.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paNLK1-AQ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2245,"url":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/gci-insights\/2020\/02\/11\/family-law-court-orders-for-supervised-contact-in-custodial-disputes-unanswered-questions\/","url_meta":{"origin":2284,"position":0},"title":"Family Law Court orders for supervised contact in custodial disputes \u2013 unanswered questions","author":"Keiran Hardy","date":"February 11, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"By Emily Schindeler This brief is based on the following paper: Schindeler E\u00a0(2019). Family Law Court orders for supervised contact in custodial disputes \u2013 unanswered questions. Children Australia 44: 194\u2013201. https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1017\/cha.2019.42 What problem is your research designed to address? Why is this significant? A key aim of the Family Court\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "briefs"","block_context":{"text":"briefs","link":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/gci-insights\/category\/briefs\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/gci-insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2020\/02\/Harry_Gibbs_Commonwealth_Law_Courts_Building_Brisbane_01.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/gci-insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2020\/02\/Harry_Gibbs_Commonwealth_Law_Courts_Building_Brisbane_01.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/gci-insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2020\/02\/Harry_Gibbs_Commonwealth_Law_Courts_Building_Brisbane_01.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/gci-insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2020\/02\/Harry_Gibbs_Commonwealth_Law_Courts_Building_Brisbane_01.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/gci-insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2020\/02\/Harry_Gibbs_Commonwealth_Law_Courts_Building_Brisbane_01.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2561,"url":"https:\/\/testblogs.griffith.edu.au\/gci-insights\/2021\/09\/16\/child-protection-systems-as-blaming-systems-the-case-for-a-criminological-approach-to-child-protection-16-september-2021\/","url_meta":{"origin":2284,"position":1},"title":"Child protection systems as blaming systems: The case for a criminological approach to child protection","author":"Carrie Zhang","date":"September 16, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Presenter: Dr Brian Jenkins The vast majority of child protection activity relates to social welfare concerns about children and families. 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