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Bill before lower house to improve how Indigenous children experience NSW child protection system
The Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Amendment (Family is Culture Review) Bill 2022 is due to go through the lower house this week. This follows its recent success in the upper house. Created in 2021, the bill’s goal is to achieve recommendations following the Family is Culture Review in 2019.
Shandel McAuliffe
The proposed amendments seek to reduce the high representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children taken into care: currently 11 times higher for Indigenous versus non-Indigenous children, according to Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS).
The bill also sets out a higher threshold for the removal of Indigenous children from their families, with new criteria needing to be satisfied before removal is allowed.
“When the Children’s Court is considering an application for a care order for an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child or young person a report is to be given to the court setting out the action that has been taken to justify the proposed removal of the child or young person from his or her family and the support that has been provided to the family,” it said.
The bill is supported by AbSec (NSW Child, Family and Community Peak Aboriginal Corporation) and ALS (Aboriginal Legal Service, NSW/ACT, Limited).
Karly Warner, Palawa woman and chief executive of ALS, commented: “The NSW government has signed onto the Closing the Gap target of reducing over-representation of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care. The reforms in this bill are an evidence-based path to achieving that goal, backed by an independent expert review and supported by Aboriginal organisations.”
John Leha, Birri Gubba, Wakka Wakka and Tongan man and CEO of AbSec, added: “The evidence tells us that Aboriginal kids in out of home care are likely to experience long-term and intergenerational harms due to being taken from their families, communities and culture.”
The amendments proposed by the bill address concerns that current practices are reflective of those that contributed to the stolen generations. ALS and AbSec are seeking to ensure a more positive experience for Indigenous children and young people who come into contact with the NSW child protection system.
This bill in NSW follows support shown in Western Australia for a commissioner dedicated to Aboriginal children and young people. Read more here.
