Did you know? Burdekin’s Aboriginal Unit came about in 2023 after much discussion was held concerning the representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people and children in Burdekin’s out-of-home care program.
“Nationally in 2023, 43.7 per cent of children aged 0–17 years old in out‑of‑home care were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander – an increase of 3.7 percentage points since 2019 .
In comparison, the proportion of children aged 0–17 years old in the general population in 2023 who were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander was six per cent.”
Closing the Gap Information Repository
Aunty Barbara O’Neill, a proud Dhangatti Woman, was born on the Gadigal Country of the Eora Nation. She heads up Burdekin’s Aboriginal Unit.
She recently presented at the third National Justice Forum on the topic of transforming justice by embracing rehabilitation over punishment. She spoke about the impact of punitive measures versus supportive interventions on individual behaviour, especially on children who had experienced trauma.
“At Burdekin, we are currently caring for 18 Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islander children and young people out of a total of 90 in out-of-home care at Burdekin. This represents 20 per cent of children and young people in out-of-home care.”
Aunty Barb, Head of the Aboriginal Unit at Burdekin
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people are overrepresented in the child protection system in Australia due to “historical, enduring and interrelated factors, including intergenerational trauma originating from colonisation, systemic racism, inequality across social determinants of child wellbeing, and the laws, policies and practices that operate to the detriment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”(QFCC 2021; SNAICC et al. 2023).
The removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families has contributed to poorer outcomes in relation to their health, education, housing and employment (AIHW 2018; Healing Foundation 2013).
There is also a link between out-of-home care, the Juvenile Justice system and the over-incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults in the criminal justice system (Australia Law Reform Commission 2017).
Reducing overrepresentation in child protection
The recent National Justice Forum aimed to equip attendees with solutions on integrating reconciliation efforts into justice policies and practices and fostering collaboration between communities and institutions.
As part of her presentation, Aunty Barb spoke about the importance of cultural healing compared to using traditional ways of rehabilitation, in aiming to reduce offending.
“I believe that we must keep a sacred space in which indigenous children and young people may find safety and solace in culture until they can find safety with kin or community.”
“We know that recidivism starts in childhood. We work with young people who do not fit in with their immediate family, have no kin to care for them and who have not been able to access an ACCO (Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisation placement.)
“Our intention is to ensure that children and young people in our care are strengthened against contact with the Juvenile Justice System. We can do this by ensuring cultural practice is available at all times.”
Aunty Barb, Head of the Aboriginal Unit at Burdekin
What is recidivism?
Recidivism is a term frequently used in criminal justice to refer to repetitious criminal activity and is synonymous with terms such as repeat offending and reoffending (Australian Institute of Criminology).
Addressing the root causes of recidivism:
The root causes of offending for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people stems from trans-generational trauma, include (according to Aunty Barb):
- Child sexual abuse
- Institutional abuse
- Poverty
- Inadequate housing
- Hunger
- Mental health issues
- Substance abuse
“I have now sat with well over 100 participants on the Walama List. At least 80 per cent of them report child sexual abuse. They are now traumatized people who are incarcerated.
They may have been abused by a family member, a teacher, a sports coach, a spiritual advisor, a Juvenile Justice Officer (both male and female).”
Aunty Barb, Head of the Aboriginal Unit at Burdekin
(The ‘Walama List’ is a special court process within the NSW criminal justice system designed specifically for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander offenders, aiming to reduce re-offending rates by providing a more culturally appropriate and therapeutic approach to sentencing.)
How can recidivism be reduced?
- Addressing the social and economic determinants – poverty, homelessness, and educational attainment – all assist in reducing recidivism (Central Australian Aboriginal Congress 2021; De Bortoli et al. 2015).
- Enabling self-determination through Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led service provision. This involves adequately resourcing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Controlled Organisations to provide culturally safe prevention and early support services (Creamer et al. 2022).
- Transitioning services away from statutory child protection agencies to Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations (ACCOs), where decision making authority is transferred to a delegated Aboriginal authority (SNAICC et al. 2023).
- Permanent Housing
- Indigenous Trauma Practitioners
- Family finding and family re-integration support
- Funding to return to Country
- Education and Employment
- Recognition that culturally spiritual healing is vital to recovery
- Addiction support
- Eliminating institutional racism and discrimination in child protection (SNAICC et al. 2023).
- Recognising the Child Placement Principle as the best practice approach across the continuum of interactions with the child protection system (SNAICC 2018). (The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle 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.)
- Implementing a more culturally-responsive secondary service system, which includes supports such as counselling, parenting programs and specialist services targeted at vulnerable families (QFCC 2021; Queensland Child Protection Commission of Inquiry 2013)
- Providing access to culturally-responsive, trauma-aware, healing-informed supports to restore cultural connections (Healing Foundation 2019).
According to Aunty Barb, “It is a powerful story of neglect and abuse that sets a child onto the road to recidivism. By engaging in restorative justice and ensuring that the children and young people are valued and protected within a therapeutic community, for their safety and future,” recidivism can be reduced.
“We need to:
- Address the reason behind why the child is broken or traumatised
- Ensure culturally led healing
- Give the child hope
- Give the child joy
- Speak to the child’s integral self
- Ensure that the child has a thorough health screening, including brain scans.”
Cultural identity and Connection to Country
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children often encounter significant challenges when exposed to the child protection system and removal from their families (AHRC 1997; Martin 2017; Martin and Walter 2017).
This has profound effects on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. It can lead to a loss of cultural identity and connection to Country, family and kinship, which are the pillars of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander wellbeing (Bourke et al. 2018; Miller et al. 2020; SNAICC et al. 2023).
“Burdekin’s Aboriginal Unit is about healing. Administratively, we’re changing the way Burdekin works with Aboriginal young people. We’re connecting with young Aboriginal people and going through an Indigenous healing process with them.”
“Burdekin’s Aboriginal Unit walks alongside our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, and directs what Burdekin does. It is a partnership that focuses on Burdekin’s policies and procedures and is now the first port of call when a referral comes in from the Department of Community & Justice.”
“Burdekin is now supported to recruit more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff and partner with other organisations, including Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations (ACCO) – that deliver services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.”
Aunty Barb, Head of the Aboriginal Unit at Burdekin
