Nearly 60 per cent of all children in out-of-home care in Western Australia in 2023-24 are Indigenous, a new report has found.
Launched on Friday by WA's Commissioner for Children and Young People Jacqueline McGowan Jones, Profile of Children and Young People in WA revealed of the 653,000 children and young people living in WA, 99,300 (15.2 per cent) live below the poverty line.
"Children today are more vulnerable than ever before," Commissioner McGowan-Jones said.
"From increasing poverty and displacement to lack of access to basic services, we must not only raise awareness but also prioritise tangible, systemic change that can mitigate these threats to ensure a safer, brighter future for our children and young people."
Aboriginal children aged 0-17 make up 7.3 per cent of the total children and young people population and the Profile found almost 60 per cent of children in out-of-home (OOHC) care were Indigenous.
The overall rate of children in young people in OOHC rose by 2.9 per cent, to 5,326 children and young people. The latest Closing the Gap data revealed WA had an Indigenous OOHC rate of 58.3 per 1,000 children, above the national average but below the rates in Victoria and SA.
3,178 First Nations children and young people were in OOHC, according to the profile; 1670 (52 per cent) of them were under the age of 10. The percentage of Indigenous children in OOHC has risen 10 per cent in ten years; 3.6 per cent between June 30, 2023, and June 30, 2024.
"In the 10 years from 30 June 2014 to 30 June 2024, the total increase of children and young people in out-of-home care was 1,089. Of the 1,089 children and young people, 1,034 were Aboriginal and 55 were non-Aboriginal," the Profile states.
Data revealed the number of children and young people in detention "decreased noticeably", from 105 in 2021–22 to 86 in 2022–23, however more than 57 per cent of children in detention were unsentenced.
Of the 132 children aged 10-13 held in detention during 2023-2024, fewer than five were sentenced.
The latest Closing the Gap data shows Indigenous children and young people in WA are 28.1 times more likely to be incarcerated than non-Indigenous children and young people, down from more than 38 times less than a decade ago.
"It's clear that the future of many of our children is being compromised. They need wraparound supports and early intervention to ensure they do not go down a path of neglect, anti-social behaviour, and crime," Commissioner McGowan-Jones said.
Nearly every child aged 10-17 held in detention in the June quarter of 2024 in WA was Indigenous and the Profile makes clear there is a "clear interaction between the child protection system and the youth justice system".
"More than half (60.7 per cent) of children and young people in the WA youth justice system during 2022–23 had also had an interaction with the child protection system in the previous ten years," it says.
The Profile also revealed almost a quarter of children living in very remote areas are developmentally vulnerable on two or more metrics, compared to 9.4 per cent of children who live in the metropolitan area.
"Every child has the right to quality education and care but for remote children especially, they are often deprived of this fundamental opportunity due to a range of socio-economic and infrastructural barriers," Commissioner McGowan-Jones said.
"We cannot blame children and young people for the circumstances into which they are born. We must act now to reverse this trajectory."
