Indigenous foster care guidelines 'fail child safety test'

A LEADING Aboriginal child protection advocate has warned new guidelines on placing indigenous children in foster care fail to guarantee child safety.

A LEADING Aboriginal child protection advocate has warned new guidelines on placing indigenous children in foster care fail to guarantee child safety.

National standards on out-of-home care were released yesterday by Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin following consultation across the states and territories.

One of the national standards, on placing Aboriginal children in foster care, states that Aboriginal communities should be consulted on such matters.

The standard also specifies that "placements are made in accordance with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle", which aims to ensure indigenous children maintain connection to their culture.

Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency chief executive Muriel Bamblett said she supported the Aboriginal child placement principle, but was concerned that child protection was not mentioned in the standard.

It was far from clear how the consultation with indigenous communities would apply in child protection cases, she said.

"In practice, it should not be about putting children at risk, or putting a child's culture before their safety," Ms Bamblett said.

"It doesn't read like that in the standards, so I guess my concern would be that children's best interests come first and the safety of children has to be in the practice framework."

Ms Bamblett, currently co-chairing a government inquiry on child protection in the Northern Territory, said the desire to prevent another Stolen Generation should not usurp the primary focus on child safety.

"I think there's a danger that the word Stolen Generations becomes a licence for placing children at risk," Ms Bamblett said. "The Stolen Generations should have taught us more about the importance of the child placement principle but should not be used to place children at risk."

Ms Bamblett said clear national guidelines were needed so children's courts could make consistent decisions about Aboriginal foster care placements.

"Working in child welfare, we have quite often opposed the placement of an Aboriginal child with an Aboriginal carer, and the court has ruled against us," Ms Bamblett said. "Quite often, if those cases hit the media, it's the Aboriginal service or the Aboriginal community that gets blamed."