Muriel Bamblett, Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency - Child protection in Aboriginal communities

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Child Protection in Aboriginal Communities Adjunct Professor Muriel Bamblett CEO VACCA

Transcript of Muriel Bamblett, Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency - Child protection in Aboriginal communities

Page 1: Muriel Bamblett, Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency - Child protection in Aboriginal communities

Child Protection

in Aboriginal

Communities

Adjunct Professor

Muriel Bamblett

CEO VACCA

Page 2: Muriel Bamblett, Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency - Child protection in Aboriginal communities

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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)

Page 9: Muriel Bamblett, Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency - Child protection in Aboriginal communities

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)

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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

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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

Page 12: Muriel Bamblett, Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency - Child protection in Aboriginal communities

Percentage breakdown of primary

substantiated maltreatment types in 2011-

12 Indigenous and non-Indigenous children

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Cycle of poverty/disadvantage

Rent

Income Employment

Education

Skills & Knowledge

Health and particular

pattern of child rearing

Home

House

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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.

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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

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Wominjeka Aboriginal Children's Cultural

Festival

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Early Literacy Bags

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Knowing who you are

Being proud

Telling who you are

Sharing your story

Beautiful

Sacred

This is your identity Auntie Joy Murphy

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The Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency

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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?

Page 21: Muriel Bamblett, Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency - Child protection in Aboriginal communities

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

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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

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“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

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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

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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