Department for Child Protection removed and separated five Aboriginal siblings ‘without properly’ consulting family

An Aboriginal grandmother says the Department for Child Protection failed to inform her before removing her grandchildren from their mother, placing them with different foster carers.

An Aboriginal grandmother says the Department for Child Protection failed to inform her before removing her grandchildren from their mother.

A grandmother of five Aboriginal siblings says the Department for Child Protection made “no effort” to contact her before or after they removed the children from their mother and separated them to different foster carers.

Wilma* (not her real name), the maternal grandmother of the siblings, whose ages range from a toddler to teens, said she has been trying to get the children placed in her care since they were removed in 2022.

She told The Advertiser that three of the children were separated and placed with individual foster carers, with only two siblings put together in the same placement.

Two weeks after the children were removed from their mother, due to drug addiction, according to Wilma, she said she received a call from her other daughter who then told her that the children had been taken by the DCP.

“Everything was after the fact the kids were taken,” she said.

“I was told by my other daughter that the kids were taken by DCP and that was it.

“They didn’t contact me at all. I had to find out from someone else that the DCP had taken my grandchildren away.”

Under the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle (ACPP), legislated in South Australia’s Children and Young People (Safety) Act 2017, if an Aboriginal child is to be removed by the DCP, the department “should, if reasonably practicable”, place the child with a member of their extended family, a member of the child’s community, or a member of their child’s community who is of Indigenous cultural background.

Wilma said she contacted the DCP on multiple occasions and put her hand forward to get the children placed in her care, but said they only responded when she pressed them.

“I got information about the DCP worker who removed the kids, and I rang her, but I didn’t hear much back from her after we first spoke,” she said.

“It was very limited, like, I’d give them a call, and they wouldn’t respond at all until I would make a follow-up phone call.

“The only contact that I had was in response to my phone calls.”

Wilma said the DCP “failed” in their due diligence because they did not contact her before removing the children, or offer a family group conference.

A DCP spokesperson told The Advertiser that they were “unable to comment on individuals”, and said that new child safety laws would increase the use of the ACPP.

“This would include offering family group conferences to all Aboriginal families under the proposed Children and Young People (Safety and Support) Bill 2024,” they said.

“Other changes in the proposed legislation affecting Aboriginal families include enshrining the full Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle and embedding the commitment that it be implemented to the standard of active efforts, alongside broader provisions that will help drive delivery of Closing The Gap.”