A deeply personal journey to Acting Children’s Commissioner

During Reconciliation Week the woman responsible for the Territory’s most vulnerable children shares her deeply personal story. Read here.

SHE is responsible for ensuring the wellbeing of the Territory’s most vulnerable children, but Acting Children Commissioner Nicole Hucks’ journey to the top is deeply personal.

As the granddaughter of a Stolen Generation survivor, she speaks with authority about intergenerational trauma, using Reconciliation Week to reflect on moments in her own life.

“I remember as a teenager, me, my sister, mum and nanna, in my room sitting on the bed talking and laughing, all of a sudden, I looked over and my nanna was just broken down … sobbing,” Nicole said.

“We thought something was wrong. She looked at us and said she had never had this, a mother or siblings to sit and laugh with … it was a kind of a bittersweet moment for her and for all of us.”

Nicole’s nanna was stolen from Artlunga, Central Australia at just eight years old and moved to Garden Point Mission almost 1700km away.

“The government policy was to take Aboriginal children … and give them homemaker skills because that’s as good as Aboriginal children were going to be,” Nicole said.

“My nanna got a very limited education. She was given limited love and affection … then as soon as you turn 18 you’re kicked out of the mission.”

Nanna Miriam went on to work multiple jobs while raising five children, who she deeply adored.

“My grandmother loved her kids but my mum and her siblings were brought up without that ability to be hugged.”

Nicole’s family story is replicated across the Territory and nation.

Acting Children's Commissioner Nicole Hucks during Reconciliation Week 2022. Picture: Supplied

It was the shared trauma in her family and community that drove her to pursue social work. In her early years, Danila Dilba was given seed funding as recommended by The Bringing Them Home Report, supporting Aboriginal people to gain tertiary qualifications leading to future employment in emotional and social wellbeing services.

“That funding gave me a start … but (my story) is why I believe there needs to be a fundamental shift in child protection approaches,” she said.

“Statutory systems - child protection and youth justice – are very mainstream systems trying to grapple with some really deep-rooted intergenerational trauma, loss and grief … we need a system that is more cognisant of Aboriginal culture, values and history.”

In the Northern Territory, 90 per cent of children in out-of-home-care are Aboriginal.

In recent years the total number of Territory children in out-of-home-care has slightly decreased but Ms Hucks said more Aboriginal care services were needed.

“What I push for is Aboriginal family-led decision making as a mechanism to ensure that significant decisions about Aboriginal children are underpinned by culture and the best interests of the child … take the power away from the department and place decisions back with family and community because ultimately, they know what’s best for their children.”