Search Results (71)

First Nations children remain dramatically over-represented in Australia’s Out-of-Home Care (OOHC) system, particularly in New South Wales (NSW), which continues to report the highest numbers nationally. This narrative review, grounded in a relational First Nations Standpoint Theory and decolonising research paradigms, to critically examine the systemic, structural, and historical factors contributing to these disproportionalities. Drawing on interdisciplinary evidence across law, criminology, education, health, governance studies, and public policy, the analysis centres Indigenous-authored scholarship and contemporary empirical literature, including grey literature, inquiries, and community-led reports. Findings reveal that the OOHC system reproduces the colonial logics that historically drove the Stolen Generations. Macro-level structural drivers—including systemic racism, Indigenous data injustice, entrenched poverty and deprivation, intergenerational trauma, and Westernised governance frameworks—continue to shape child protection policies and practices. Micro-level drivers such as parental supports, mental health distress, substance misuse, family violence, and the criminalisation of children in care (“crossover children”) must be understood as direct consequences of structural inequality rather than as isolated individual risk factors. Current placement and permanency orders in NSW further compound cultural disconnection, with ongoing failures to implement the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle (ATSICPP). Contemporary cultural rights and Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) frameworks highlight the urgency of restoring Indigenous authority in decision-making processes. The literature consistently demonstrates that cultural continuity, kinship networks, and ACCO-led models are sort to produce stronger long-term outcomes for children. The review concludes that genuine transformation requires a systemic shift toward Indigenous-led governance, community-controlled service delivery, data sovereignty, and legislative reform that embeds cultural rights and self-determination. Without acknowledging the structural drivers and redistributing genuine power and authority, the state risks perpetuating a cycle of removal that mirrors earlier assimilationist policies. Strengthening First Peoples governance and cultural authority is therefore essential to creating pathways for First Nations children to live safely, remain connected to family and kin, and thrive in culture. Full article

Background: Global declines in immunisation rates and a resurgence in measles pose a threat, even in countries like Australia that have achieved elimination status. National coverage in Australia is measured at static timepoints, so it is unclear at what age children received their vaccines. This may permit the emergence of immunity gaps, leaving children susceptible to measles between those reporting timepoints. Methods: A cross-sectional retrospective analysis was conducted using routinely collected data from the Australian Immunisation Register for children residing in Hunter New England Local Health District (HNELHD), New South Wales, born from 1 January 2015 to 1 June 2019 as a quality improvement initiative. Coverage, age at immunisation, and on-time immunisation were described by demographic, local geographic and age variables. Reverse survival analysis was conducted to determine the timing of achieving 95% MCV2 coverage. To ensure the cultural integrity of the research, an Aboriginal researcher co-led the design, analysis and interpretation of results. Results: The analysis included 53,390 children. Measles coverage exceeded the national and international target of 95% MCV2 coverage, with coverage in Aboriginal children surpassing national rates for all children. Pockets of low coverage were identified in several smaller geographic areas and subpopulations. Median age of MCV1 receipt was 375 days (IQR: 369–390 days), and MCV2 was 560 days (IQR: 551–583 days). More recent birth cohorts had earlier immunisation. On-time immunisation rates were high, and most children receiving measles immunisation late were still immunised within six months of the schedule date. The 95% MCV2 coverage threshold was achieved at 1582 days of age. Conclusions: Robust measles immunisation coverage and timeliness were found in HNELHD, Australia. Timeliness data analysis is a useful adjunct to static coverage data in understanding immunisation protection. Improving immunisation data availability, accessibility, and timeliness offers potential to better inform targeted public health activity. Full article

The first generation of non-Aboriginal children born into the First Nations/Aboriginal country had their own relationship to colonising. For them, Aboriginal people were negotiated as part of play. The children escaped the strictures of work or classroom to spend time at the Aboriginal camps located near the homesteads, or to indicate Aboriginal presence on the stations. The locating of First Nations/Aboriginal people as part of play had an influence on the way non-Aboriginal people related to Aboriginal people and politics in Australian history. Full article

Background: Childhood Obesity is a significant and growing Public Health threat among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) children and adolescents in Australia. Health sectors in Australia have been focusing on health intervention programs across various states to prevent childhood obesity. This review aims to analyse the impact of obesity intervention programs conducted among children and adolescents of ATSI communities across Australia and report on the best practices for conducting future research. Objectives: This scoping review synthesised existing literature on the obesity prevention interventions programs among ATSI Children and Adolescents in Australia and examined their scope, implementation, and outcomes; evaluated their cultural appropriateness; and highlighted critical enablers and barriers. Methods: This scoping review analysed scholarly journal articles that reported on the findings of obesity intervention programs delivered across ATSI children and adolescents. Only Quasi-experimental and Randomized Control Trials (RCTs) were selected for the review. A full search has been carried out in Health databases such as Cochrane Library, Medline, PubMed, and ProQuest Central for the past 15 years. The framework of the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) for Scoping reviews was followed throughout this review. Results: Eleven studies met inclusion criteria. Findings were clustered into five themes: (i) community-led, systems-based interventions improved health behaviours and anthropometry; (ii) culturally tailored, community-embedded programs enhanced engagement and health literacy; (iii) early childhood and family-focused approaches showed promise; (iv) community or policy initiatives yielded mixed results; and (v) behavioural interventions were ineffective without addressing social and structural determinants. The most effective programs were community-delivered, multi-stakeholder, and centred on empowerment and capacity building. Conclusions: Obesity prevention efforts targeting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and adolescents are most successful when community-led, culturally grounded, and supported by multiple stakeholders. These findings underscore the necessity of culturally sensitive, participatory approaches. Further research is needed to strengthen the evidence base and inform sustainable, policy-relevant strategies for childhood obesity. Full article

As many face significant financial costs and legal barriers to accessing justice to remedy systemic human rights violations rooted in colonialism, they are increasingly turning to class action litigation for recognition of harms and to safeguard others. Drawing on Canadian examples, including a class action involving First Nations children, this article examines the complex and sometimes conflicting relationship between class actions and human rights remedies. The paper highlights the risks of class actions displacing human rights awards, the ethical challenges in relationships between class counsel and Indigenous victims, and the limited effectiveness of settlements in preventing recurring injustices. The article concludes by calling for stronger regulation of class action lawyers and tethering such proceedings to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other human rights standards, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Full article

Western systems of child protection cannot protect First Nations children. Australia’s current child protection systems were born from a legislated and explicit intention of destroying the culture, language and identity of First Nations children, with the aim of assimilating and eliminating First Nations people. The ongoing overrepresentation of our children in ‘child protection’ systems does not so much reflect inherent risks in our families as it does the systemic failures and harm being imposed on our children and families. To ensure the safety of our children, we need to end the systemic and structural racism within Australia’s child protection systems, empower self-determination and commit to addressing the social, economic and cultural determinants that underpin child safety and protection. To achieve this, we need an effective system of care for our children that is best achieved through First Nations systems of child wellbeing and safety that are leading practice. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle (ATSICPP), which recognises our systems of kinship care, is one such mechanism. However, it is currently compromised, undermined and underutilised across all Australian jurisdictions. Self-determination requires placing full control and decision-making over the well-being and safety of our children into our hands. Our systems have evolved over 65,000 years and are guided by strict obligations and cultural protocol, and laws. As such, they provide the strong foundation needed for the care and protection of our children. This paper uses a First Nations, rights-based analysis of literature to interrogate the historical foundations and ongoing impact of Australia’s child protection systems on First Nations children and families. It then centres First Nations systems of knowledge and practice as the foundation for a call to replace our current child protection systems with a First Nations Child Safety and Wellbeing system. Full article

This paper argues for a conceptualisation of self-determination with respect to Indigenous Peoples’ child protection that is grounded in human rights which are plural, relational, and collective as well as individual. This challenges the idea that human rights are universal and static standards based on a code of enumerated rights with a focus on individual rights. Conceptions of the best interests of the child, permanency in care arrangements, and attachment within colonial institutions such as children’s courts often presume non-Indigenous understandings of family and culture. These child protection concepts, which are often framed as consistent with or even necessary to attain children’s human rights, implicitly embed colonial understandings and values with respect to family and community relations. An acknowledgment of the role of law in structuring relationships is necessary for the human rights of Indigenous children to be upheld. We argue that a relational and distributional conceptualisation of these rights can help to clarify how the law can contribute to strengthening, rather than undermining, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander family and community relationships. Full article

Bring them home, keep them home is research based in New South Wales (NSW) Australia, that aims to understand successful and sustainable reunification for Aboriginal families who have children in out-of-home care (OOHC). This research is led by Aboriginal researchers, and partners with Aboriginal organisations. It is informed by the experiences of 20 Aboriginal parents and family members, and more than 200 practitioners and professionals working in child protection and reunification. This paper traces the evolution of Bring them home, keep them home which is now at the forefront of influence for NSW child protection reforms. Using specific examples, it highlights the role of research advocacy and resistance in challenging and disrupting systems in ways that amplify the voices of Aboriginal families and communities and embeds these voices as the foundation for radical innovation for child reunification approaches. The paper shares lessons being learned and insights for Aboriginal-led research with communities in the pursuit of restorative justice, system change, and self-determination. Providing a framework for liberating Aboriginal families from child abduction systems, this paper seeks to offer a truth-telling and practical contribution to the international efforts of Indigenous resistance to child abduction systems. Full article

Aboriginal communities in Australia have long advocated for self-determination in child protection. This includes appeals for greater structural authority in systems of care and protection, with Aboriginal children in the care of Aboriginal agencies. Advocacy from agencies, including the Victorian Aboriginal Child and Community Agency (VACCA), has resulted in legislative and funding reforms in Victoria that place Victorian Aboriginal community-controlled organisations (ACCOs) at the forefront of responses supporting Aboriginal children and families. This article provides an overview of that advocacy, the context in which the reform arose. Then, it details how VACCA has implemented the reforms by developing a model for Aboriginal child protection centred on culture, self-determination and human rights. Importantly, it discusses the process and negotiation of transferring authority exercised by the government to ACCOs and offers insights for the system and practice transformation. This article outlines how ACCOs like VACCA are shifting the language, culture and practice of child protection. Full article

Coaching is an important form of professional development for the early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforce. However, educators working in remote contexts do not always have access to this type of support. This paper explores the effectiveness of a virtual (online and telephone) coaching program focusing on the implementation of evidence-informed Conversational Reading strategies in supported playgroups for Aboriginal families in the Northern Territory of Australia. Fourteen Family Educators and Family Liaison Officers across ten Families as First Teachers playgroups in the Northern Territory participated in the coaching program over twelve months. Coaching records, planning documents, participant feedback, and video recordings of participants’ practice were analysed to explore the impact and acceptability of the coaching program. The findings indicate that participation in the cycle of virtual coaching, planning, and reflection supported participants in implementing evidence-informed teaching strategies, offering language-rich experiences to children frequently and with increased fidelity, and engaging with families about their use of these strategies in the home. The model of coaching developed shows promise for wider implementation in ECEC contexts, particularly in remote communities where access to high-quality professional learning and development can be limited. Full article

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing, being and doing have fostered physical, social, and emotional wellbeing for millenia, forming a foundation of strength and resilience. However, colonisation, systemic violence and discrimination—including the forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, which continues today—have disrupted this foundation, leading to compounding cycles of intergenerational and complex trauma. The enduring impact of intergenerational and complex trauma is exemplified in increasing proportions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children being removed from their families and involved in the child protection and youth justice system—which represents a national crisis. Despite this crisis, the national response remains insufficient. To address these urgent issues, over 200 predominantly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders, participated in Gathering the Seeds Symposium, the inaugural meeting for the Replanting the Birthing Trees project held in Perth in April 2023. This meeting marked the beginning of a public dialogue aimed at Closing the Gap by advancing community-led strategies to break cycles of trauma and foster cycles of nurturing, recovery, and wellbeing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents and children across the first 2000 days. We outline critical shortcomings in the current child protection and youth justice systems, and the urgent need for child wellbeing reform. Importantly we highlight recommendations made in submissions in 2023 to two key Australian inquiries—the National Early Years Strategy and the Human Rights Commission inquiry into out of home care and youth justice systems. We argue that structural reforms and culturally safe and skillful care for parents experiencing trauma and violence is a serious gap, and a national priority. The first 2000 days represents a critical window of opportunity to transform cycles of trauma into cycles of healing. It is time to ‘replant the birthing trees’ and ensure that all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander babies and families can have the best possible start to life through comprehensive models of care grounded in recognition of the right to self-determination and culture. Full article

In this paper, we describe the developmental process of a culturally grounded Moombaki virtual reality (VR) game. We share how Aboriginal children’s drawings have informed the creation of an interactive learning platform for primary school-aged children attending schools in Wadjuk Boodja. The project focused on connecting students to cultural knowledge through immersive storytelling, creative exploration, and collaborative design by using small group yarning circles and game development activities. The aim of the yarning sessions was to identify, explore, and understand the knowledge Aboriginal children had of Aboriginal identity and culture, including protocols, ceremonies, stories, Dreamtime, languages, and traditional practices, and how best to represent these concepts in the cultural learning journey using virtual reality. Full article

Aim: To understand the factors that influence family violence towards First Nations women, to inform practises and policies to support these women and improve their engagement in maternal child health services. Design: A qualitative study, using narrative inquiry integrated with the Indigenous philosophy ‘Dadirri’, and thematic analysis of the data. Materials and Methods: Survey of 10 Maternal Child Health nurses in 2019, and interviews of 35 Aboriginal mothers in 2021. Results: The nurses identified drugs, alcohol, socio-economic issues, the history of effects of colonisation on First Nations peoples, and stress as perceived factors influencing family violence, and acceptance, fear, cultural beliefs, and mistrust, for women’s low reporting of violence. Factors that influenced nurses’ ability to identify family violence were mistrust and understanding of Aboriginal culture. Low self-esteem, lack of belonging, and not being heard were identified by the mothers as factors that influence family violence. Fear of child protective services, shame, mistrust, and poor rapport with the nurses contributed to their low reporting of violence. The most significant factor for the mothers to disclose violence is fear of losing her child, mistrust, and the questioning process. Conclusions: Nurses’ understanding of Indigenous culture is critical to develop trust and improve the engagement of First Nations women. A significant difference in the synthesis of data between the nurses and their First Nations consumers was conspicuous. Research regarding the benefit of models and interventions that recognise the social determinants of health and well-being on health outcomes as well as the value of culturally strong health services aimed to encourage an earlier identification of risk, ideally from the antenatal period to the child’s fifth birthday, is imperative. The implications of this research are of international importance for First Nations families and challenge current nursing practises to address the human rights challenge of the inequity in health outcomes between First Nation and non-First Nation children, their exposure to family violence, and their over-representation in child protection services. Full article

Introduction: Despite the increasing overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (hereafter respectfully referred to as First Nations) children living in out-of-home care (OOHC) in Australia, little is known about their wellbeing needs. This comprehensive literature review aimed to identify these needs and the features of care required to meet them. Methods: MEDLINE, CINAHL, Scopus, Informit, PsycINFO, and Embase databases and relevant grey literature were searched from inception to December 2023 for articles presenting qualitative accounts and perspectives relevant to the wellbeing needs of First Nations children in OOHC. These included reports from First Nations children in OOHC; First Nations adults with lived experience of OOHC; carers, caseworkers, and organizational stakeholders; and First Nations community members with relevant lived and/or professional experience. We used the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and Braun and Clarke’s reflexive thematic analysis method for data analysis. Results: Thirty-five articles (19 peer-reviewed, 16 grey literature) met the inclusion criteria. Our analysis revealed six wellbeing needs of First Nations children in OOHC: Being seen, being heard; a sense of stability; holistic health support; social and cultural connections; culturally safe OOHC providers; and preparedness for transitioning out of care. A range of features of OOHC were also identified as critical for supporting these needs. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that First Nations children in OOHC have unique wellbeing needs in addition to safety, security, and health. Attention to the development and maintenance of social and cultural connections is an important concern that must be addressed by OOHC providers (caseworkers and organizations) and carers and supported by OOHC policy and the associated systems in Australia as part of providing culturally safe and supportive care. Full article

In Australia, Indigenous children have rates of overweight and obesity 1.5 times those of non-Indigenous children. Culturally safe and effective nutrition interventions are needed for this group. This paper aims to describe a Community-based Participatory Action Research (CPAR) approach to designing formative nutrition intervention research with First Australian children and their families and to reflect on the challenges arising from this process. After obtaining ethical approvals, a Steering Committee (SC), including nine Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experienced in delivering or receiving health care, was established as a project governance body to develop culturally safe project materials and methods. The Indigenous research method of yarning circles was chosen by the SC for the community consultation, and the First Australian SC members were trained to collect the data. They liaised with community organizations to recruit yarning circle participants. Individual interviews conducted by an Aboriginal research assistant replaced yarning circles due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. While the CPAR approach to formative research was successful, the pandemic and other factors tripled the study duration. To authentically, ethically and safely engage First Australians in research, researchers need to decolonize their methodological approach, and funding bodies need to allow adequate time and resources for the process. Full article