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Sep 2004 Seven priorities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families |
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Too many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children have experienced the pain and hardship of neglect, abuse and violence, and continue to face an uncertain and difficult future.
SNAICC (Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care) has identified the following seven policy priorities, each of equal importance, that it believes all Australian governments should adopt to extend recent efforts to improve the health, welfare and education of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Several of these priorities require leadership from the national level and cooperation from the states and territories.
The policy priorities are: - A National Apology
- Healing and Education
- Fewer Contemporary Removals
- Child Protection Reforms
- Early Childhood Programs
- Capacity Building
- Better Planning.
SNAICC has identified the key reforms and initiatives needed to implement these policy priorities and these are available from SNAICC and on its web site (www.snaicc.asn.au). SNAICC is committed to pursuing these reforms on behalf of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families, and will work in partnership with local services, state and national Indigenous bodies, governments and nongovernment organisations to have them implemented.
Issues such as poverty, illness, substance abuse and the intergenerational effects of previous Stolen Generations policies mean that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families are more likely to need the services provided by child protection departments. Reforms to the way child protection authorities respond to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families in these circumstances are urgently needed.
Minimum standards for the care, protection and support of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in need of care should be developed by communities in partnership with governments, and outcomes in child protection should be independently monitored and reported on at the national level.
Planning for the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families is currently inadequately thoughtthrough, ad hoc and uncoordinated. SNAICC, a small community based organisation, is the only national body focussing on these issues. A betterplanned response to the urgent problems confronting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families is urgently needed. This response must involve governments and communitybased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations working closely together.
The Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care is the national peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children
www.snaicc.asn.au
Ph: (03) 9482 9380
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 07 July 2005 )
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