Post on 20-Aug-2015
transcript
Child Protection
in Aboriginal
Communities
Adjunct Professor
Muriel Bamblett
CEO VACCA
Victorian Aboriginal Child Care
Agency (VACCA) established in
1977 as an Aboriginal community
controlled and operated service.
VACCA’s objectives include
•The preservation, strengthening
and protection of the cultural and
spiritual identity of Aboriginal
children
•Provision of culturally appropriate
and quality services which are
responsive to the needs of
Aboriginal communities
The Late Auntie Mollie
Dyer - VACCA Founder
Aboriginal advocacy through the years
• Aboriginal struggle to keep our children
• The setting-up of ACCAs
• Aboriginal Placement Principle
• The right to culture and identity (UN CROC Art. 30)
• Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody
• Bringing them Home - Report of the National Inquiry
into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Children from their Families
• The present day – varied and diverse response to the
needs of children
VACCA’s Service Continuum
Good enough
Parenting
Early
Intervention Support At
Risk
Prevention Referral and
resource
Cultural activities
Close the Gap
Early
warning
signs
Child truancy
Family breakdown
Problem
identified Parent-child conflict
Relationship stress
Family violence
Significant
problem
identified Child at risk of
removal
Child already removed
Aboriginal children in Victoria
Victoria is home to 6.4% of Australia’s Aboriginal children. Aboriginal children are:
•1.2% of all Victoria’s children. There are 14,578 Aboriginal children (ages 0-17)
living in Victoria.
•15.8% of children on protection orders. There are 1150 children on Protection
Orders, 840 on custody or guardianship orders
•16.5% of all children in out of home care. There are 1,028 Aboriginal children in out
of home care in Victoria
•Over the past ten-years the rate of Aboriginal children in OOHC has grown 20 times
faster than overall population growth
•Rate of growth of Aboriginal children in OOHC has been significant across all age
groups – in 12 months to 30 June 2012 there were 535 Aboriginal children were
placed in OOHC and 257 exited care (these were children that were in care for one
month or more)
•Aboriginal children are staying in care longer
Rate of Indigenous (ATSI) in OOHC
vs Rate of Non Indigenous
6
507531 526
552
626660
734
816
877
1 028
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
As at 30 June
Aboriginal Children2003 - 2012
103% increase
Source Report on Government Services 2013 (data), Victorian Department of Human Services (analysis)Number of children in out-of-home care is the number of children aged 0-17 years as at 30 June each year.‘Non Aboriginal’ includes children whose Aboriginality is unknown.
3 539
3 7783 882
4 242
4 426 4 3964 549
4 6534 801
5 179
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
As at 30 June
Non Aboriginal Children
2003 - 2012
46% increase
Data Context
Number of Children in Out-of-home Care as at 30 June
Growth from 2002 to 2011 by Age Group
38%
63% 52%
39%
69%
100%
184%
149%
75%
205%
30%
47% 39% 35%
61%
0%
50%
100%
150%
200%
250%
<1 01 - 04 05 - 09 10 - 14 15 - 17
All Aboriginal Non Aboriginal
Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children
The risk factors for parents, families or caregivers were identified as:
• Family stress higher than other Aboriginal households in Australia and twice that
for non-Aboriginal households;
• Family violence
• Mental illness, serious illness and alcohol and drug related problems
• Higher levels of illicit drug use
• Higher levels of psychological distress
• Three times the level of unemployment when comparing both parents unemployed
• 20% of Aboriginal households run out of food on a weekly basis and can’t buy
more
• Year 12 completion rates for parents is double that for all families in Australia
• Teenage pregnancy rate is 4.5 times higher than for non-Aboriginal women.
Source: Report of the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry (2012)
Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children
Risk factors associated with children included:
• Lower birth weights
• Higher proportions of ear and dental health problems
• Aboriginal children twice as likely to need assistance with core
activities ( a proxy measure for disability)
Source: Report of the Protecting Victoria’s Vulnerable Children Inquiry (2012)
Aboriginal over representation
Child Protection operation:
Overly interventionalist, Western constructs
of child welfare, cultural factors, impact
colonisation, racist and discriminatory
Cultural
Difference, powerlessness, cultural violence
and racism
Socio- economic elements
Socio economic status, disadvantage,
entrenched poverty, dispossession and
marginalisation
Legacy of past policies
The Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission (1997) report,
Bringing Them Home, concluded that some of the underlying causes
for the poor outcomes experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander peoples and for the over-representation of children in child
protection and out-of-home care were:
•the legacy of past policies of forced removal and cultural assimilation;
•intergenerational effects of forced removals; and
•cultural differences in child-rearing practices.
Key individual, family and community problems associated with
unresolved trauma include:
•Alcohol and drug abuse
•Family Violence
•Overcrowded, inadequate housing and homelessness
Percentage breakdown of primary
substantiated maltreatment types in 2011-
12 Indigenous and non-Indigenous children
Cycle of poverty/disadvantage
Rent
Income Employment
Education
Skills & Knowledge
Health and particular
pattern of child rearing
Home
House
Culture is in the best interests of the
child
Children’s cultural identity is the key facet of
their development.
Any definition of the rights of children, and any
criteria which seek to determine what is in the
best interests of the child, must recognise the
right to culture as formative for identity and
therefore that maintenance of cultural identity is
in the best interests of the child.
Rituals
Dance
Food
Travel
Rights
Shelter
Clothes
Social Rules Marriage
Relationships
Learning
Language
Economy Lore
Storytelling
Family
Beliefs
Values
Land
Spirituality
Importance of Land when speaking of culture
Wominjeka Aboriginal Children's Cultural
Festival
Early Literacy Bags
Knowing who you are
Being proud
Telling who you are
Sharing your story
Beautiful
Sacred
This is your identity Auntie Joy Murphy
The Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency
For Aboriginal parents & families to be:
• Strong in their culture
• Strong in their family relationships
• Strong in their Aboriginal childrearing practices
• Involved in their community
• Have their children grow up to be resilient to drug misuse
What is the vision for the Koorie FACєS
Program?
Program Outcomes
The program helps Koorie families and carers of Koorie kids to
• Share information about how our past affects us today
• Look at ways of being a strong Koorie
• Explore ways of raising culturally strong healthy young fellas
• Increase confidence to deal with issues within the family
• Develop ways of connecting and sharing with young fellas
• Come up with ideas about how to deal with the tough stuff like losing
a family member
• Explore ways of dealing with conflict in the family
• Share ideas about dealing with young fellas challenging behaviours
• Get useful ideas about how to talk to young fellas about alcohol and
drug misuse
• Understand the changes that young fella’s may be experiencing
Verbal comments from participants in relation to changes with their young fellas and in their families after participating in the program: “My approach has changed” “I’m resolving issues as they arise” “I’m staying calm when speaking to him when he’s angry” “I learnt to deal with racism, not to let it upset me and deal with it in a different way” “I learnt about communicating instead of yelling/screaming” “I’m going to be stronger and speak up more”
Feedback from Focus groups
“I’m going to teach cultural values such as respect” “I’m not going to yell, I’m going to talk” “I’m talking more and getting on better” “I’ve lowered my tone of voice and the words I’m using” “I’m working out better ways of dealing with problems” “I have learnt to listen more to my daughter’s needs and views” “Communication has improved and I am more confident in speaking my mind to him without fear”
Feedback from focus groups
My Cultural Journey
A Framework for the journey of Aboriginal
children through care:
Culture
Identity
Developmental needs
A record of a child’s formative years
In closing
• First half last century - purpose to destroy Aboriginal
culture and communities
• Emphasis in child welfare to be on ecological
approaches to address underlying causes of abuse
and neglect
• Now have better ways of caring for Aboriginal
children in OOHC
• Pursuit of cultural rights
• VACCA as key driver of innovation and reform