❓ Question regarding the McGowan government's plan to address the over-representation of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care through an Aboriginal family-led decision-making pilot. The Minister outlines the investment and approach, highlighting child safety and self-determination.
AnsweredQoN 799Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
ABORIGINAL CHILDREN —
OUT-OF-HOME CARE
799. Ms
J.M. FREEMAN to the Minister for Child Protection:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's commitment to keeping children safe and its efforts to
address the over-representation of
Aboriginal children in out-of-home care. Can the minister outline to the house
how the Aboriginal family - led
decision-making pilot will provide a new way in delivering positive outcomes
for vulnerable children?
OUT-OF-HOME CARE
799. Ms
J.M. FREEMAN to the Minister for Child Protection:
I refer to the McGowan Labor
government's commitment to keeping children safe and its efforts to
address the over-representation of
Aboriginal children in out-of-home care. Can the minister outline to the house
how the Aboriginal family - led
decision-making pilot will provide a new way in delivering positive outcomes
for vulnerable children?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for the question
and her interest in this important area. As well as keeping the state safe and
strong, making sure that people are protected from COVID, we are getting on
with doing the day-to-day work that good governments do. Making sure that we
are proactive in looking at new models of how to work with vulnerable families
is part of that work. Members might be aware that Aboriginal children are
grossly over-represented in our out-of-home
care system. At the moment, they comprise about 56 per cent of children in
out-of-home care compared with three per cent of the population. It
really is a number that we need to address, but we need to do that in a way that does not compromise child safety. That is
non-negotiable. We are looking at different ways of working with those families
and communities to get better outcomes. As a government, we have invested
significantly in early intervention services and we are starting to see some
good results. I was pleased to see in the budget papers and also in our
annual report, which we will be tabling, that some of those results show some
good outcomes for early intervention. We have put some money—$715 000—into
a two-year trial for Aboriginal family - led decision-making. It is an alternative way of
looking at child protection matters. Obviously, as I said, child safety is not compromised, but it is based around self-determination between the family,
Aboriginal organisations and the broader
family involved. This model has currently been adopted, in part, in Victoria,
New South Wales and Queensland , but they all have different models. We
need to look at what is appropriate for Western Australia and the different
ways that we can approach this up and down the state. We are looking at perhaps
infant health and whether infants come into care—and reunification as
another model. We will do some work on that, including involving Aboriginal
people in the design of that trial, which is a two-year trial.
People might be interested to know
that in my electorate I have a relatively new constituent in Fiona Stanley. I recently bumped into her, and she was quite
excited to tell me that she had recently published in The Lancet , one of the world's oldest medical journals, an article about how well we as a country,
but particularly as a state, had done keeping Aboriginal people safe during
COVID. That is something that we need to recognise. There was not one case of
COVID in remote communities.
The SPEAKER : That is the end
of question time.
Mr S.K. L'Estrange :
That's pathetic! You haven't even let her finish her answer.
The SPEAKER : We have to finish
now to do a matter of public interest.
A member interjected.
The SPEAKER : Do you disagree,
do you? Disagree, because this —
Mr S.K. L'Estrange : I
will leave it to the minister to discuss that.
The SPEAKER : No. The MPI has
to have two hours before tea, in the two hours between 4.00 pm and 6.00 pm. I said before that we are running out of time and
I apologise, but I was not the one who kept interjecting all the time.
and her interest in this important area. As well as keeping the state safe and
strong, making sure that people are protected from COVID, we are getting on
with doing the day-to-day work that good governments do. Making sure that we
are proactive in looking at new models of how to work with vulnerable families
is part of that work. Members might be aware that Aboriginal children are
grossly over-represented in our out-of-home
care system. At the moment, they comprise about 56 per cent of children in
out-of-home care compared with three per cent of the population. It
really is a number that we need to address, but we need to do that in a way that does not compromise child safety. That is
non-negotiable. We are looking at different ways of working with those families
and communities to get better outcomes. As a government, we have invested
significantly in early intervention services and we are starting to see some
good results. I was pleased to see in the budget papers and also in our
annual report, which we will be tabling, that some of those results show some
good outcomes for early intervention. We have put some money—$715 000—into
a two-year trial for Aboriginal family - led decision-making. It is an alternative way of
looking at child protection matters. Obviously, as I said, child safety is not compromised, but it is based around self-determination between the family,
Aboriginal organisations and the broader
family involved. This model has currently been adopted, in part, in Victoria,
New South Wales and Queensland , but they all have different models. We
need to look at what is appropriate for Western Australia and the different
ways that we can approach this up and down the state. We are looking at perhaps
infant health and whether infants come into care—and reunification as
another model. We will do some work on that, including involving Aboriginal
people in the design of that trial, which is a two-year trial.
People might be interested to know
that in my electorate I have a relatively new constituent in Fiona Stanley. I recently bumped into her, and she was quite
excited to tell me that she had recently published in The Lancet , one of the world's oldest medical journals, an article about how well we as a country,
but particularly as a state, had done keeping Aboriginal people safe during
COVID. That is something that we need to recognise. There was not one case of
COVID in remote communities.
The SPEAKER : That is the end
of question time.
Mr S.K. L'Estrange :
That's pathetic! You haven't even let her finish her answer.
The SPEAKER : We have to finish
now to do a matter of public interest.
A member interjected.
The SPEAKER : Do you disagree,
do you? Disagree, because this —
Mr S.K. L'Estrange : I
will leave it to the minister to discuss that.
The SPEAKER : No. The MPI has
to have two hours before tea, in the two hours between 4.00 pm and 6.00 pm. I said before that we are running out of time and
I apologise, but I was not the one who kept interjecting all the time.
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