Most Australians take for granted the right to grow up happy, safe and well, learning and surrounded by family. Yet, as you read this, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are being removed from their families, communities and cultures at a rate nearly 10 times that of non-Indigenous children.



For Aboriginal children, growing up with family and culture is profoundly fundamental to the healing process

For Aboriginal children, growing up with family and culture is not only a human right, it is profoundly fundamental to the healing process from intergenerational trauma caused by decades of injustice.

Reflecting on the political ideology of the past few decades, we have a system that has perceived Aboriginal families as needing to be “fixed”; a mindset that causes government to do things “to” us and not “with” us. We have a systemic deficit approach towards policy surrounding the First Peoples of this country.

Nowhere is this more destructive than in the way we treat the protection, safety and security of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. These dangerously entrenched attitudes lie at the heart of many systemic inequalities, and cause us grave concern for our children’s’ futures.

Tonight, around 17,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children will sleep away from their homes. Away from their families and separated from their cultural identity. We know without a major change that number will triple by 2035.

When the ground-breaking Bringing Them Home report was released in 1997, Australia was shocked to learn that 20% of children living in out-of-home care were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

Now, 20 years later, our children make up 35% of those in care. This is a national crisis.

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This crisis needs urgent attention and deserves bipartisan support at the highest level to redress the underlying causes of removal – poverty, intergenerational trauma and discrimination. Governments of all persuasions must face this directly, and be courageous enough to learn from mistakes of the past and start to trust Aboriginal people to drive our own solutions. They must also understand that culture, in all its positive forms, is profoundly fundamental to the solution.

These solutions often come from families and communities who have struggled through hardships and against a system that is not equipped to support them.

It’s these solutions that are being highlighted by the Family Matters campaign. The campaign is working to ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people grow up safe and cared for in family, community and culture, and it’s a movement that I’m proud to be a part of.

Too often people underestimate the nurturing and caring capacity of Aboriginal families, because the complexities of our family units simply aren’t understood. Our families often extend far beyond a Western ideal of the nuclear unit. Grandparents, uncles, aunts, sisters, brothers and other relatives can play very active roles in caring for children – particularly when parents encounter challenges, as we all do from time to time.

To remove a child from that family network takes away a very strong support network that ensures they grow up safe, secure and with a deep understanding of their place in the world. That’s why we need a flexible system with diverse options for the placement of children – one that supports families to cope with challenges, and most importantly, addresses the causes of these challenges in the first place.

Ensuring the rights of children are upheld is something that should unite us and their safety should always be our priority. Inherent to a safe environment is connection to family and culture. Empowering, and building capacity for, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led services is crucial to all our families, and particularly critical to supporting those families at risk of intervention.

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We must reset the relationship between government and Aboriginal families. It must be a strength-based relationship, anchored by mutual trust, respect and a belief in the strong and positive aspects of our culture. If governments are committed to investing in and embracing the strengths of our Aboriginal communities, families and individuals, we can move beyond surviving to thriving. This is the only way we can transcend this challenge.

If Australia is serious about achieving a fair go for all, the extraordinary rates of removal of our children from their families and their culture must be at the top of our political agenda.

Without immediate action in 20 years we will find ourselves in an even worse position, outraged and appalled as we apologise to yet another stolen generation and wonder where we went wrong.

Chris Sarra is the founder and chairman of the Stronger Smarter Institute, and professor of education at the University of Canberra. Prof Sarra is an ambassador for the Family Matters campaign.