No government agency responsible for ‘shameful’ rates of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care

No single government agency or person in Victoria is accountable for reducing the ‘shameful’ rate of Indigenous children in out of home care in the state, a justice commission has heard.

Victorian Department of Families, Fairness and Housing chief Argiri Alisandratos faces the Yoorrook Justice Commission. ,

No single government agency or minister in Victoria is accountable for reducing the number of Indigenous children in out-of-home care, according to the Yoorrook Justice Commission.

Commissioner Maggie Walter, of the state’s “truth-telling” royal commission into injustices experienced by Indigenous people in the criminal justice and child protection systems, said it was “problematic” no department or minister could be identified as responsible for halting the ­removal of Aboriginal children from their families. “(The) dispersal of responsibility is problematic. I can’t see any way that things will change … if nobody is taking the lead,” she said.

Professor Walter was one of five commissioners and the commission’s senior counsel to press ­Department of Families, Fairness and Housing chief Argiri Alisandratos about who should be ­accountable for high rates of ­Aboriginal children in out-of-home care.

In response to senior counsel assisting the commission Fiona McLeod asking who is “taking the lead”, Mr Alisandratos said it was up to the whole of government.

“(The) government, Department of Premier and Cabinet is ­responsible for the Victorian ­Aboriginal Framework. Yes, ultimately it’s a government responsibility,” he said.

According to the state’s latest Aboriginal Affairs report, the proportion of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care in Victoria is more than 3 ½ times what it was 13 years ago and double the national average.

It also reported that in 2020-21, 134.9 Aboriginal children per 1000 were in out-of-home care in Victoria (2572 in total), compared with 57.6 nationally.

Ms McLeod read part of a letter to the commission signed by the Premier, Daniel Andrews, dated March 23 this year, which acknowledged the high rates of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care as a “great shame”.

“The Victorian government acknowledges the conditions and injustices that have caused this overrepresentation and is also ­responsible for ensuring that racism and injustice are confronted and addressed,” the letter read.

Later, Mr Alisandratos said the vision of his department should be that no children are removed from their families.

“It would be fantastic to have an environment where no children are abused or traumatised. I don’t see that we can ever really achieve that, but that should not stop us from looking at ways to minimise the need for First People’s children to come to the ­attention of statutory child protection services,” he said.

During further evidence, Mr Alisandratos revealed child protection practitioners did not ­explicitly ask for the views of children about their preference to leave or return to their family ­although it is mandated.

He said practitioners “engage with children to try and understand their wishes”.

Mr Alisandratos said practitioners, as with broader society, could be subject to biases and ­racism, but he believed they tried to do their best for the children they worked with. He said issues of family violence and substance abuse within families impacted decisions about whether or not to remove children and made their needs ­complex.

Commissioner Sue-Anne Hunter said those issues were a result of colonisation and intergenerational trauma, and the onus was on the state to address them.