States and Territories must place greater emphasis on ensuring children entering child protection are placed with relatives or kin, experts say.
The call comes from SNAICC – National Voice for our Children, the peak body for Indigenous children and young people, after new Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) data revealed less than half (47 per cent) of First Nations children entering out-of-home care (OOHC) in 2023–24 were placed with relatives.
Although the number is slightly up from 45 per cent in 2019, SNAICC CEO Catherine Liddle said it remains far too low.
"When less than half of our kids in care are placed with kin, it's clear the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle (ATSICPP) is not being fully respected or implemented," she said.
ATSICPP is designed to protect Indigenous children in care, including placing them with family or kin and close to Country. But in the Northern Territory, where the principle has come under threat, only 17.5 per cent of Indigenous children aged 0–17 in OOHC were with an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander relative or kin — the lowest rate in the country.
"These aren't just numbers, that statistic represents thousands of children's lives and this system is failing them," Ms Liddle said.
"We know when children are able to maintain family and cultural connections, they have better outcomes in health and education, interrupting the trajectory between child protection and juvenile justice systems."
The data also showed as of June 30, 2024, only 40.8 per cent of Indigenous children in OOHC were with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander relatives, kin, or carers — down from 48.4 per cent in 2017. Just 35 per cent of children leaving OOHC were reunited with their families.
While 68 per cent of Indigenous children who had siblings in OOHC were placed with at least one sibling, more than 60,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children came into contact with child protection systems over the year. Emotional abuse — often linked to exposure to family and domestic violence — was the most common reason for intervention. Other types of abuse in the data include neglect ( 24 per cent), physical abuse (19 per cent) and sexual abuse (1.9 per cent).
Ms Liddle highlighted the implications: "When emotional abuse is the leading reason for intervention, we must recognise what that really means - children are being removed because of the violence experienced by their mothers, aunties and grandmothers."
Experts argue ATSICPP is backed by three decades of evidence underscoring the importance of a child's connection to family, community, culture and Country. It is legislated nationwide to prioritise placement with Indigenous relatives and kin.
Earlier this year, NT Child Commissioner Shahleena Musk reinforced this principle: "It is the birthright of Aboriginal children to be connected to their family, country, community, language and culture as enshrined by the Child Placement Principle."
The latest data also showed 85 per cent of First Nations children who were reunified with their families in 2022–23 did not return to OOHC in 2023–24.
Ms Liddle said this demonstrates that most reunifications work, yet child protection systems are failing to act.
"Despite knowing that the vast majority of reunifications worked well, the latest data set shows an underwhelming effort from child protection systems to reunite children with their families," she said.
She reiterated SNAICC's long-standing position, shared by many Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations (ACCOs), that Indigenous-led solutions are essential to ending family violence and improving early intervention services.
"Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations are best placed to work with our families and have the solutions that work to turn these statistics around," Ms Liddle said.
"Governments and child protection systems need to get serious about the commitments that they have made because the efforts being made now simply aren't enough."
