Australia: Warnings of Aboriginal Child Separation at 'Devastating Rates'

Facts

• South Australia's Aboriginal Children Commissioner April Lawrie has warned that 'devastating rates' of First Nations children being removed from their families risk another Stolen Generation, despite the state government having vowed to tackle such family separation.¹
• This comes as a preliminary report into the removal and placement of Indigenous children in South Australia, released on Wednesday, predicted that as many as 140 in every 1K Aboriginal children will be in state care by 2031 if current trends continue.²
• The estimated figure puts rates close to those seen between 1910 to 1970, when one-tenth to one-third of all Aboriginal children — termed the Stolen Generation — were systemically removed from their families and put into institutions, fostered, or adopted out to non-Indigenous families.³
• Indigenous children reportedly remain overrepresented in Australia's child protection system, with one in two being subject to at least one child protection notification in 2020/21, while the rate for non-Aboriginal children was one in 12.⁴
• Commissioner Lawrie has also brought forward 17 recommendations in this preliminary report, including the amendment of child-protection legislation to emphasize keeping children in their communities and place the onus on authorities to justify applications to remove children.⁵
• Elsewhere, Western Australia's Commissioner for Children and Young People Jacqueline McGowan-Jones recently told a Senate inquiry into missing and murdered First Nations women and children that 'extreme racism' is to blame for Aboriginal children dying at greater rates than non-Aboriginal people.⁶

Sources: ¹Al Jazeera, ²Abc australia, ³Guardian, ⁴Indaily, ⁵Yahoo news and ⁶Daily Mail.

Narratives

• Left narrative, as provided by Guardian. Too many Indigenous children are being removed from their families and culture nationwide — changes are urgently needed in this sector. Australia must empower Aboriginal-controlled organizations, offer allowances and support for First Nations people to step forward to care for their kids, and take into consideration that colonization and past mistreatment still affect these cases.
• Right narrative, as provided by Skynews. Race focus is exactly what has eroded Australia's foster system, even leading to Indigenous children being put back into dangerous situations under the veil of protecting Aboriginal cultural heritage. It would be absolutely disgraceful for the country not to revamp its approach regarding adoption. The safeguarding of children must come first.