Ballarat organisation launches Aboriginal Children in Aboriginal Care program
Sylvia Effrett and Jess Wall run the Aboriginal Children in Aboriginal Care program in Ballarat. (ABC Ballarat: Rochelle Kirkham)
In short:
Ballarat and District Aboriginal Cooperative is the latest in Victoria to become authorised to run the Aboriginal Children in Aboriginal Care program.
Aboriginal organisations are being given legal authority to become decision makers for Aboriginal children in out-of-home care.
What's next?
Organisations in Echuca and Shepparton are working to become authorised.
Aboriginal children are 22 times more likely to be removed from their families and placed in the child protection system than non-Aboriginal children in Victoria.
Massive steps are underway across the state to change that statistic as Aboriginal people are given legal authority to become decision makers for Aboriginal children in out-of-home care.
The Ballarat and District Aboriginal Cooperative has become the third organisation in Victoria to run the Aboriginal Children in Aboriginal Care program, following Bendigo and Melbourne.
The Ballarat and District Aboriginal Cooperative has become part of the program. (Supplied: Ballarat and District Aboriginal Cooperative)
The cooperative has taken full control of the cases of 14 Aboriginal children since April, with plans to take on a dozen more.
It came after five years of preparation to become authorised.
Program manager Jess Wall said it was changing the trajectories of Aboriginal children.
"It is giving community, families and children self determination back and decision making back with Aboriginal people instead of having the department make those decisions," she said.
Different approach
The Victorian government's 2021 Aboriginal Affairs Report said almost 30 per cent of children in the out-of-home care system were Aboriginal, despite Aboriginal people representing less than 1 per cent of the Victorian population.
Ms Wall said while her staff were required to operate within the same legislation as the Victorian child protection service, their approach was vastly different.
"Working within community, we usually know the family," she said.
"Working together with the family is the point of difference, really hearing their voices and working alongside them."
The cooperative puts culture at the forefront when dealing with children in out-of-home care. (ABC Ballarat: Rochelle Kirkham)
Connecting children to culture has also been a priority.
Changes as small as the language staff use, for example saying "family time" instead of "contact", has been having a big impact.
Team leader Sylvia Effrett said staff had been supporting a young child to build a relationship with their father who had recently been released from prison.
She called it one of her "good news stories".
"We have made flashcards for that child in English and their traditional language, with the picture," she said.
The cooperative uses flash cards to teach language to children. (ABC Ballarat: Rochelle Kirkham)
"The father and the child have been doing artwork together and talking about stories.
"We are starting to reach out to siblings that have not met their half sibling, building up those relationships and connections."
Ms Wall said six children in the Ballarat program had already safely returned to their family.
She said staff stayed involved with families to support them once their children returned to ensure they didn't end up back in the system.
Higher rates of reunification
Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency, which covers Melbourne, inner Gippsland and the Ovens Murray, became authorised to run the Aboriginal Children in Aboriginal Care program in 2017.
Bendigo and District Aboriginal Cooperative's numbers have grown to more than 100 children since also beginning the program in 2019.
Njernda Aboriginal Cooperative in Echuca and Rumbalara Aboriginal Cooperative in Shepparton have been going through the authorisation process.
Bendigo and District Aboriginal Cooperative director of child safety and cultural support, Jodie Kinsmore, said she had seen higher rates of family reunification.
Jodie Kinsmore says the program is having an impact. (ABC Ballarat: Rochelle Kirkham)
Ms Kinsmore said her organisation received feedback from people saying they wouldn't have their kids back if it wasn't for them or the Aboriginal Children in Aboriginal Care program.
She said the Aboriginal Children in Aboriginal Care program was healing of intergenerational trauma that had created distrust in child protection services.
"Many of our families … we hear [from child protection] that they don't engage or they don't speak to us," she said.
"We understand why because of history and when we go in, we communicate our way.
"That can settle that barrier and start changing that trajectory."
Ms Kinsmore said some families felt shame and didn't fully understand the impact of history.
"Once we work through and say what was it like for your grandma, what was it like for your grandma's grandma, there's learning and healing," she said.
"It is much bigger than case management."
Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency chief executive Muriel Bamblett said it was not always easy work, but the "cherry on top" was when multiple siblings could be returned home to their families, stay safe and not re-engage with the system.
"You prevent the next generation from having contact with the system," she said while speaking at a confence in Ballarat this week.
"You build social capital.
"You create the foundations for prosperity across the generations."
She said it took her organisation 10 years of lobbying for the government to entertain the idea of guardianship.
"Look at where we all are now — changing the lives of our children, families, communities for the better," she said.
"Where we all go now I am fascinated to see."