Aboriginal children are significantly over-represented in the Child Protection and out-of-home care population. A greater understanding of and commitment to practice approaches, which take into account Aboriginal children’s culture, community, Country, lore, and family relationships and structures, will be important in identifying and determining what is in the best interest of the child.
Engagement with Aboriginal children and families at all points of Child Protection involvement must acknowledge the rights of Aboriginal people to culture and self-determination.
Aboriginal people and Aboriginal-led services must be supported to make decisions in the best interests of Aboriginal children. Child Protection practitioners can support by promoting their participation, respect Aboriginal knowledge and wisdom, and remove structural biases and racism that prevent Aboriginal people from contributing to decision-making.
Case practitioner tasks
- Consult your supervisor and document additional assessment and other required actions for an Aboriginal child.
- Consult Aboriginal Child Specialist Advice and Support Service (ACSASS) and consider the recognition principles (s. 7E), prior to making significant decisions. Significant decisions include:
- classification of a report
- substantiation
- the permanency objective for a child
- significant decisions regarding:
- care arrangements
- contact between a child and their parents and others
- education, health, cultural or developmental support
- involvement of other agencies and services
- preparation and review of a case plan
- removal or return of a child from parental care
- court applications and submissions
- entry or exit at a secure welfare service
- placement changes
- breaches, revocations, variations and extensions of orders
- reunification decisions
- case transfers
- case closure.
- Consideration of the recognition principles (s.7E) must be recorded on CRIS for all key decisions and actions undertaken for Aboriginal children. The ‘Statement of Recognition’ case note category should be used for recording at all points of child protection involvement.
- Share information with ACSASS and seek the participation of ACSASS and any Aboriginal-led service(s) involved with the child in planning processes.
ACSASS is authorised to receive information about the record of investigation of a protective intervention report. Parental consent is not required.
ACSASS workers are able to provide cultural advice in the information gathering and planning phases.
Contact with a local Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation (ACCO) or other programs within Victorian Aboriginal Child and Community Agency (VACCA) does not replace the requirement to consult with ACSASS.
Further information can be found in the Program requirements for the Aboriginal Child Specialist Advice and Support Service.
- In cases beyond intake, advise the child and family of the requirement for the department to consult ACSASS and the reason for this.
- Seek their views and consent for ACSASS staff to attend visits and planning meetings.
- If consent is declined, advise the family that ACSASS will continue to be consulted about significant responsibilities and decisions consistent with child protection’s legal duties.
- Record ACSASS consultations in CRIS and consult your supervisor to determine next steps.
- Contact other Aboriginal services, ensuring compliance with information sharing provisions, to inform assessment and if required refer for service.
- When an investigation is substantiated or a final protection order is made, refer for an Aboriginal Family Led Decision Making (AFLDM) meeting, where possible.
- Consider referral for AFLDM meeting whenever a meeting is appropriate as part of the case planning process.
- Organise for ACSASS to attend client contact visits, planning meetings and court hearings. Include relevant cultural information from ACSASS in court reports.
- Record a rationale in CRIS if this is not appropriate or possible or where consent is declined.
- Consult ACSASS about the content of a case plan being developed or under review, and seek specific advice on identifying and meeting the child’s cultural support needs as part of the case plan.
- If placement in care is likely or necessary, consult ACSASS beforehand unless this would result in an unreasonable delay, or as soon as possible after placement.
- Apply the Aboriginal Child Placement Principles (s. 13) and Further principles for placement of an Aboriginal child (s. 14) if the child requires placement.
- Arrange for a cultural plan to be provided to an Aboriginal child in care. See Cultural plans for tasks that must be completed.