In the wake of the tragic death of a ten-year old Indigenous child in out-of-home care in Western Australia, questions have been asked about the wellbeing of Aboriginal children in the child protection system.

Less than a week after the death of the boy in WA in early April, a young Torres Strait Islander died in a car accident in Canberra after leaving a residential care facility run by MacKillop Family Services, with his family alleging they were not made aware when he left the facility.

Data shows 43.7 per cent of children aged 0–⁠17 years old in out-of-home care in 2023 were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander – an increase of 3.7 percentage points since 2019.

In Western Australia, this sits at 59.3 per cent, 1.3 per cent higher than one year ago.

Advocates have said Indigenous children are often treated differently to non-Indigenous children in child protection cases; with poverty - disproportionately impacting First Nations people - often assessed as neglect and used as a reason to remove children. Often, the state will remove children from "poor" families, only to pay other - often non-Indigenous - people to care for them.

The WA government said this month that the removal of children is a "last resort," however many Indigenous and human rights groups have disagreed with this, citing data and anecdotal evidence.

Nyamal psychologist Tracy Westerman said during her seven years as a child protection worker, 100 per cent of her caseload in the Goldfields were Indigenous children.

"In that time I didn't remove one child. I also didn't leave a child in an abusive situation," she wrote on social media.

"That's because EVERY Aboriginal family came to attention SOLELY due to struggling with parenting and trauma and attachment from their own removal from family — so I proactively did everything in my power to provide the skills/intensive therapy they needed to stay together."

A recent hearing in South Australia revealed a number of Aboriginal women having their children taken from them at birth - before they had even had a chance to hold their infants - as part of the so-called "unborn child concerns" — notifications filed to departmental authorities.

According to testimony, SA's Department for Child Protection (DCP) sometimes never notified either support workers or expectant mothers of their intention to remove the newborn babies at birth.

The ACT's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People Commissioner, Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts, has called for a major overhaul of the OOHC system, arguing it was failing First Nations people.

"There is this narrative that it is in the best interests sometimes of children to fall under the responsibility of child protection services, and I think what we're seeing time and time again, history has told us, is that they're not best suited to parent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people," the Bundjalung Widubul-Wiabul woman told Guardian Australia.

She later wrote: "It is clear that the current system is failing our Indigenous children, and it is time for action. We cannot continue to stand by and watch as our young ones suffer in the hands of a broken system."

In an interim report last year the Yoorrook Justice Commission called for a stand-alone Aboriginal child protection system.

Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People in Victoria, Meena Singh, argued in her appearance at the inquiry, that the government systems designed to keep all children and young people safe, were unreflective of the needs and lived experiences of Aboriginal children and their families.

A report in The Australian from 2022 cited a source close to child protection services in Victoria who spoke of overwhelming workloads and a lack of experienced staff as factors in deaths of children known to child services.

In WA, the parents of the 10-year-old told the ABC they acknowledged they had had "problems" in the past, but said the Department of Communities provided little support to help them get back on track.

Dr Westerman said 82 per cent of cases saw Indigenous children removed for alleged neglect — "a very preventable thing".

"We have a system that provides no opportunities for Aboriginal families to heal — removal is a foregone conclusion once they are flagged by the system," she wrote.

The National Suicide Prevention Trauma Recovery Project (NSPTRP) said the death of the 10-year-old was a "catastrophic failure" by the WA government.

Project director Megan Krakouer told local media that children were often removed "due to homelessness – it is a poverty narrative".

The death of the two children in the past month also highlighted the longer-term issues, including trauma, that come from children being placed into care at a young age.

The death rates of children known to child protection is significantly higher - up to six times more than the general population in some jurisdictions.

A report by the Child Death Review Board in Queensland found 72 children who died in the period 2022-2023 were known to Child Safety in the 12 months prior to their deaths. Of the 60 who were investigated, 41 per cent were under the age of one. Five children committed suicide.

Two of the children were Aboriginal boys living with a disability who were incarcerated before dying shortly after leaving detention facilities.

Queensland Family and Child Commissioner Luke Twyford told National Indigenous Times: "Children involved in child safety have, by definition, experienced significant trauma, which we know increases their risk of suicide and other risk-taking behaviours that can lead to death."

"I call for a care system for all children, but specifically for First Nations children, where the workers are focused on their wellbeing; where there are adults and family members empowered to stay connected with, and build relationships with, those young people."

A 2021 report completed for the Australian Federal Police National Missing Persons Coordination Centre stated: "Despite the fact that it exists to provide vulnerable children with a safe, nurturing and healthy environment in which to grow into adulthood, the OOHC system does not always guarantee that children in its care will have their needs met or be safe and happy."