Territory Families retreats from plan to force high-needs Aboriginal child to leave white carers

A SUPREME Court judge has accused Territory Families of trying to conduct an ‘experiment’ on a high-needs Aboriginal child by seeking to remove her from her white carers and place her in a remote community

A Supreme Court judge has accused Territory Families of trying to conduct an ‘experiment’ on a high-needs Aboriginal child

A SUPREME Court judge has accused Territory Families of trying to conduct an “experiment” on a high-needs Aboriginal child by seeking to remove her from her white carers and place her in a remote community for her cultural wellbeing.

The girl, PG, from the Central Desert, was born prematurely in 2012 and suffered meningitis. She became subject to a protection order at the age of two, whereby Territory Families took over her responsibility until she was 18.

The girl was placed with a white couple in Alice Springs, one being a specialist paediatrician and the other a social worker, both of whom had extensive experience working with Aboriginal children.

The child had numerous health problems, including autism, ADHD, speech issues and inappropriate behaviours.

In 2014, the couple moved to Brisbane with their own two children and were granted permission to take the young girl as well.

Meanwhile, Territory Families was working on a plan to connect PG to her maternal grandparents, with whom she had no bond, at a remote community five hours from Alice.

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The aim was to “ensure PG is able to access the knowledge and wisdom of her Aboriginal heritage which will contribute to her strong sense of identity as she grows up”.

However, a 2016 report to Territory Families from Dr Catherine Llewellyn, a specialist child psychiatrist, states that such a “reactionary” approach of taking the child out of quality care would probably cause regression.

Despite this, in late 2017, Territory Families decided to transition the girl to live with her grandparents full-time.

Her carers took legal action.

Sarah-Jane Zaichenko, Territory Families’ acting child protection manager, told the carers the decision was based on the priority to maintain the girl’s indigenous connection.

“She will be an outsider because she has not experienced her culture, is unfamiliar with her country and has limited language,” Ms Zaichenko wrote.

“Exposure to indigenous artwork and indigenous community networks in Brisbane is a very poor substitute for a lived cultural experience.”

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But unable to sustain an argument as to why the girl should be handed to grandparents with no experience in complex medical care, Territory Families retreated from the court case.

“The decision to transition (PG) to her grandparents’ care is on hold,” it stated in an affidavit.

“It remains the goal towards which Territory Families is working.”

Justice Peter Barr said the child would have been “subjected to an experiment in a remote community in Central Australia based on (1) her race and (2) concerns held by the Department as to her likely cultural alienation”.

He ordered Territory Families pay the carers’ court costs.