Page 274 - Week 01 - Thursday, 13 February 2020
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means to engage in culturally safe practice; and our community partners, including Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Services and Gugan Gulwan Youth Aboriginal Corporation.
In 2017, the Community Services Directorate partnered with Aboriginal-controlled organisation Curijo to start delivering family group conferencing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, empowering them to make their own decisions about how to keep their children safe within family, community and culture. Ongoing funding for this program was included in the 2019-20 budget, along with further investment to improve the cultural proficiency of staff and to embed the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child placement principle in policy, practice and training.
More recently, the establishment of the functional family therapy program, run by Gugan Gulwan in partnership with OzChild, has been an astonishing success. I met with Kim Davison from Gugan Gulwan and representatives from OzChild late last year and the impact of functional family therapy was clear. The community is more empowered. More families are staying together.
I was very pleased to announce at the launch of the final Our Booris, Our Way report that Gugan will receive ongoing funding for functional family therapy. This is reflected in the midyear budget review to be introduced today, which includes almost $4.4 million over four years for functional family therapy, additional resources in the cultural services team, and a senior practitioner in child and youth protection services to support improved responses to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families.
The Our Booris, Our Way final report makes 28 recommendations for systemic change in child protection and out of home care to: safely reduce the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people entering care; improve their experience and outcomes while in care; and, where appropriate, exit children from care.
The report finds that there needs to be “a more holistic view on how to improve outcomes for children through improving the ability of parents to seek and receive appropriate supports”. It highlights the importance of services across government and the community that support children and families, such as those that address drug and alcohol, family violence, mental health and trauma.
This is a reminder that while we can drive change in culture and practice in child protection and out of home care, we all have a role to play across government and in the community. Every one of us has a role to play and can make a difference in the lives of children and families.
This report marks the end of the Our Booris, Our Way review, but not of our commitment to supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families. I have been, and continue to be, committed to this review and I value the information that has been presented and the developing change in the way we approach how we work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families. I am delighted that an Aboriginal-led interim implementation oversight committee will be
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