Working with children and families
Our relationship with families should acknowledge and understand their individual and family circumstances. This includes experiences of discrimination, grief, loss and violence.
Working with Aboriginal families and communities
All professionals working with Aboriginal families and communities need to understand the history of Aboriginal dispossession, social, political and economic exclusion, genocide, grief and loss and intergenerational trauma. The effects of trauma, combined with ongoing experiences of racism and exclusion today, continue to impact Aboriginal people. Historical Government policies, laws and actions created circumstances where Aboriginal people have been disempowered, disenfranchised and unable to participate in decisions about themselves, their children or families. As a direct result of these conditions, Aboriginal children are significantly over-represented in the child protection and OOHC systems. It is important that we do not repeat these mistakes when working with Aboriginal families and communities today.
Systemic disadvantage continues to be experienced by many Aboriginal people today. Working collaboratively with community, and adopting a strengths-based approach that demonstrates understanding of unique cultural perspective and practices, will help to attain better, culturally appropriate outcomes for Aboriginal people.
Practitioners need to consider Aboriginal history, culture and practice in everything they do. Aboriginal people and communities are diverse. It is important to listen and try to understand a family’s individual experiences, beliefs, strengths and wishes. Aboriginal people and communities are resilient and have strengths that they have needed to draw upon to deal with adversity throughout history and into the present. It is important to try to find out what those strengths are. It is essential that professionals attend training to develop their cultural competence. An example of this is the NSW Health Respecting the Difference Training: The Aboriginal Cultural Training Framework: Respecting the Difference (the Framework), will assist increasing cultural competencies and therefore promote greater understanding.
In recognition of this longstanding injustice, the Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998 includes the principles of Aboriginal self-determination (section 11) and participation in decision making (section 12). This ensures Aboriginal people participate in decision making regarding the care and protection of their children, through means such as FGC. The right to self-determination for Aboriginal people is also provided for in Article 3 of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Grandmothers Against Removal NSW (GMAR NSW) co-developed the Guiding Principles for Strengthening the Participation of Local Aboriginal Community in Child-Protection Decision-making (the Guiding Principles) with DCJ and the NSW Ombudsman’s Office. In particular, they highlight the role of Local Advisory Groups through which local Aboriginal communities can participate in decision making regarding the care and protection of Aboriginal children.
The Aboriginal Case Management Policy (ACMP) is an operational framework for all practitioners working with Aboriginal children and families across the continuum of support in NSW. The ACMP provides a framework for Aboriginal-led and culturally embedded case management practice to safeguard the best interests of Aboriginal children. It is the key mechanism for implementing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Placement Principles.
Additional resources to support your work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families can be found on the following websites: