MEDIA RELEASE
Tuesday 6 August 2024
The Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) Limited (ALS) supports this week’s call from the Advocate for Children and Young People (ACYP) to discontinue the use of so-called alternative care arrangements, or ACAs, for children in out-of-home care.
During the first six months of 2023, an average of 121 children and young people per month were placed by the Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) into ACAs: temporary accommodation which can include hotels and motels, serviced apartments, and short-term rentals including caravan parks. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children account for well over 50% of children in ACAs, a vast over-representation.
“Children belong safe at home, not forced to live in motels with a rotating cast of strangers playing the role of parent.
"Many Aboriginal families are devastated their children are forced into hotels and caravan parks rather than growing up connected to family, culture and community,” said Karly Warner, ALS CEO.
“By prioritising child removals over providing early and effective support to families, the NSW Government is failing our children. Instead of using expensive, unstable and harmful alternative care arrangements, the Government should be investing in supporting families to keep children safe at home,” Ms Warner said.
The ALS welcomes the centering of children’s voices in the Final Report of the Special Inquiry into children and young people in ACAs, noting that too often, the needs and experiences of young people who are most impacted by the system have been ignored.
Among the children the ALS works with are those under the care of the Minister who are placed into ACAs when released from custody if DCJ fails to find another, more stable placement type. These children would benefit from holistic support, yet they are relegated to the least appropriate form of placement.
“As part of a strategy to end the use of alternative care arrangements, the NSW Government needs to invest in alternative options including supported bail accommodation,” Ms Warner said.
Alongside new recommendations, yesterday’s ACYP report supports adopting all recommendations contained in the 2019 Family Is Culture Review, an Aboriginal-led inquiry which laid out the pathway to much-needed reform of the NSW child protection system.
“We call on the Minister for Families and Communities to adopt the ACYP’s recommendations and confirm the NSW Government’s commitment to the Family Is Culture recommendations, which remain as critical today as they were when released almost five years ago. This is essential for Closing the Gap in children taken away from their homes and families,” Ms Warner said.
DCJ continues to remove Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their homes at over 12 times the rate of non-Indigenous children.
ENDS
Media contact: Alyssa Robinson [email protected] 0427 346 017
