Big Elders meetings are conducted annually in Perth as part of community consultation and governance for the Ngulluk Koolunga Ngulluk Koort (Our Children Our Heart) project.
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are increasingly being removed from their families and placed into out-of-home care, raising concerns of another Stolen Generation.
The most commonly criticised feature of the bill is the arbitrary maximum period of two years within which a decision about permanent placement has to be made.
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One of the state’s most significant powers is the ability to remove children from their families. Potential reforms in NSW could expand this already racialised power in frightening ways.
A new report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reveals grim detail on the breadth of child abuse in Australia. But crucial national data on abuse in out-of-home care remains elusive.
Policies and services designed to protect Aboriginal children’s cultural connections are not being properly implemented.
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New reports show a widespread lack of care for the cultural needs of many of the 19,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in child protection and out-of-home care.
Isolating a child from their peers does nothing to address the underlying concerns that may have lead to a child behaving in this way.
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The cultures of silence and denial that surround child sexualised behaviours mean that adults often lack the information they need to respond appropriately.
Social workers can successfully work with most families that find themselves in trouble without taking their children away.
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After a long period of expansion in the number of children living in out-of-home care, most modern child protection systems around the world have been labouring to prevent such placements. Instead, they’re…
Many Indigenous families fear the welfare system.
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In some jurisdictions of Australia, the rate of Indigenous children in foster, kinship and residential care on any one night has reached almost one in ten. This rate is almost ten times higher than non-Aboriginal…
Foster parents often receive inadequate emotional and financial support.
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When children are deemed at risk of abuse or neglect and are removed from the family home, they are placed in out-of-home care, either with foster parents, relatives or in residential facilities. The latter…
People with complex trauma appear like they are always anticipating or responding to a threat.
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Experiencing trauma has significant implications for mental health. We’ve known this for some time but particularly since the early 1970s after observing and studying the effects of war on American servicemen…
People who have been in care are more likely to have children at an early age and are at greater risk of having their own child taken into care.
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Most people reasonably assume there is evidence of good long-term outcomes for children who come into contact with child protection systems. Why else would we intervene in the lives of children and their…
Child protection is everyone’s responsibility.
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The recent string of major child sexual assault scandals, in Australia and other countries, can create a feeling of disgust and an urge to look away from an ugly reality. Yet we must confront and take…
Four-year-old Chloe Valentine sustained injuries and died after being made to ride and repeatedly crash her 50-kilogram motorbike.
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The tragic death of four-year old Chloe Valentine in South Australia has raised concerns that the state’s child protection system is in crisis. Following a history of abuse and neglect, Chloe’s mother…
Decisions are difficult and prone to error when risk and protective factors appear to be fairly equal.
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Imagine you’re a child protection worker who has received a notification from a teacher voicing concerns about a child in her class. The case involves a five-year-old boy named Toby. Toby’s mum has had…