Closing the Gap targets: key findings and implications

Target

The target associated with Outcome 12 in the 2020 National Agreement is to reduce the rate of over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children (aged 0–17) in out-of-home care by 45% by 2031, from a 2019 baseline of 54.2 per 1,000 First Nations children.

Background

Most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) children are raised in safe environments. The over-representation of First Nations children in the child protection system reflects the history of colonisation affecting First Nations people through dispossession of their land, the displacement of families and communities, past policies of assimilation and forcible child removals, and loss of culture. Trauma and structural disadvantage are among the consequences of colonisation and systemic racism that continue to affect First Nations people (AIHW & NIAA 2024).

There are concerns that First Nations children being placed in OOHC and consequently removed from their families and communities, particularly through permanent care orders or adoption, has parallels to the Stolen Generations, and will have similar impacts (SNAICC 2023).

Children are most commonly placed in OOHC following a substantiation of a notification by a statutory child protection authority, when there was reasonable cause to believe that a child had been, was being, or was at risk (or significant risk) of being, maltreated. Drivers of child maltreatment include poverty, substance use, and family violence.

However, there is a lack of quantitative research that examines the processes whereby reports of concerns about child maltreatment are made and those reports are substantiated. While previous research has identified an over-representation of Aboriginal infants in the child protection system in Australia, the literature has been limited in examining the points at which disparities between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children occur (O’Donnell et al. 2019).

There are many authoritative reports of First Nations families experiencing difficulties in interacting with child protection systems as well as discrimination in dealings with child protection organisations. Qualitative studies of these interactions often highlight:

• a lack of cultural competency within mainstream services
• the effects of intergenerational trauma
• First Nations communities’ mistrust of statutory child protection authorities
• inadequate government-funded programs and services.

Current status

Nationally, the number of First Nations children aged 0–17 in OOHC increased from nearly 18,000 (54 per 1,000 First Nations children) in June 2019 to around 19,800 (57 per 1,000) in June 2023, increasing the gap between First Nations and non-Indigenous children in OOHC.

In 2023, First Nations children aged 0–17 were 12.1 times as likely as non-Indigenous children aged 0–17 to be in OOHC, compared with 10.6 times as likely in 2019.

In 2022–23, the primary types of abuse or neglect for children who were the subject of a substantiated notification were:

• emotional abuse (around 52% of substantiations for First Nations children, 60% for non-Indigenous children)
• neglect (nearly 29% for First Nations children, nearly 17% for non-Indigenous children)
• physical abuse (around 12% for First Nations children, 14% for non-Indigenous children)
• sexual abuse (7.0% for First Nations children, 9.5% for non-Indigenous children)

In 2023, around 63% of First Nations children aged 0–17 in OOHC were living with First Nations or non-Indigenous relatives or kin or other First Nations caregivers (about 12,500). This proportion has remained relatively unchanged since 2017.

Reunification with birth parents (or family or a former guardian) is another ATSICPP indicator. In 2020–21, about 16% of children aged 0–17 in OOHC were reunified in the reporting period (about 1,700). Of the approximately 1,500 First Nations children aged 0–16 who exited OOHC to reunification in 2019–20, most (around 84%) did not return to care within 12 months.

At 30 June 2023, of the approximately 19,800 First Nations children in OOHC, nearly 45% (about 8,800 children) had been continuously in care for 5 years or more, after increasing steadily from 40% in June 2019.

In the Northern Territory (around 31 per 1,000 First Nations children) and Tasmania (just over 33 per 1,000) the rate was only slightly higher than the 2031 target of 29.5 per 1,000. Among the remaining states and territories, the OOHC rate was much higher, ranging from 47 per 1,000 in Queensland to 103 per 1,000 in Victoria.

From June 2019 to June 2023, the OOHC rate for First Nations children has:

• fallen overall in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory
• risen overall in Victoria, Queensland and South Australia
• remained relatively stable in Western Australia and Tasmania.

The OOHC rate for First Nations children aged 0–17 was lowest in Remote and very remote areas combined (32 per 1,000 First Nations children) and markedly higher in Inner and outer regional areas combined (about 73 per 1,000) and Major cities (nearly 67 per 1,000).

Strategies for improvement

Reducing the number of children entering the child protection system requires prevention and early intervention programs to be prioritised. Primary prevention includes universal access to services, and activities and programs with a whole-of-community focus; early intervention includes services to support families that may be having difficulties caring for their children.

The four priority reforms articulated in the National Agreement on Closing the Gap are seen as central to driving improvements in outcomes, including in the area of child protection, by changing the way governments work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Shared decision making and building the community-controlled sector are considered key drivers of change (SNAICC 2023).

There is increasing evidence to demonstrate that service providers led by First Nations people are best placed to strengthen the cultural identity of children in OOHC and support their wellbeing.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle (ATSICPP) aims to keep children connected to their families, communities, cultures and Country, and to ensure the participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in decisions about their children’s care and protection. A key element of the ATSICPP is governments working in partnership with First Nations communities, and with the participation of children, parents and their families, to:

• prevent separation by dealing with the causes that lead to children and families becoming involved with the child protection system
• place children in OOHC according to a hierarchy that prioritises a child’s placement with First Nations family or other non-Indigenous family, then First Nations members of their community, then First Nations family-based carers, then with a non-Indigenous carer or in residential care
• support First Nations children in OOHC to maintain connections with their family, community, culture and Country.

The New South Wales government has used a levy to divert some funding from the Department of Communities and Justice into Aboriginal community-controlled organisation-led approaches, with the aim of reducing the number of Aboriginal children in out of home care (Allison 2022). The New South Wales government recently announced measures to improve reform of the child protection system and has committed to setting up a restoration taskforce to support Aboriginal children who can safely go home to do so (DCJ 2024).

One study ‘… endorses calls to shift from reactive strategies based in tertiary child protection to proactive, primary prevention that aims to reduce risk factors and enhance protective factors prior to problems emerging’ (Conley Wright et al. 2021:5), arguing for the establishment of multidisciplinary services cross-cutting child welfare, youth justice, mental health and education systems.

Safe and Supported: The National Framework for Protecting Australia’s Children 2021–2031 is a 10-year strategy to improve the lives of children, young people and families who are experiencing disadvantage, or who are vulnerable to abuse and neglect. The strategy aims to do this by better coordinating programs and supporting families to keep their children safe, while targeting areas with the biggest need – not only for the greatest impact but also to avoid duplication (DSS 2021).