Latest figures show there’s been a turnaround in the percentage of Aboriginal children placed with Aboriginal families in SA – but it isn’t good.
State Budget papers show the Minister for Child Protection Rachel Sanderson reports 60.1% of Aboriginal children in SA were placed with Aboriginal families during 2018-19.
788 children were placed within their own family or kinship network, with non-related carers in the child’s community, or with carers in another Aboriginal community.
That’s 5% fewer than the previous year. At 60.1% this is the lowest rate of Aboriginal placement in at least thirteen years.
The final three years under Labor saw the percentage of children placed with Aboriginal family and community steadily increase each year. But 2018-19 saw the state turn backwards. This is the first financial year under Minister Sanderson.
The news comes as a blow just after NAIDOC Week which celebrated indigenous culture and focused community attention on improving social justice outcomes for First Nations people.
A third of all children in state care in South Australia are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
Quotes attributable to Shadow Minister for Child Protection Jayne Stinson
It’s appalling that Aboriginal children are so severely overrepresented in our child protection system, making up 33% of all children in state care.
It’s even more troubling to see that Aboriginal children are not being placed with kin or community as often as in previous years.
The Minister needs to explain why compliance with the Aboriginal Placement Principle has dropped in her first year, when it was steadily improving over the three previous years.
This isn’t a great look for the Minister. What’s worse is that it’s a terrible outcome for the 1300 Aboriginal children who are currently in state care and the communities who love them.