The inquiry into the South Australian Government’s removal of Aboriginal children from families, launched by Aboriginal Children’s Commissioner April Lawrie last year, delivered its preliminary report today detailing 17 recommendations to lawmakers.

Following the receipt of 44 submissions from organisations and individuals, as well as Aboriginal community forums across SA and private sessions with individuals and families, the Commissioner’s preliminary report claims current policies, practices and procedures arising out of the Children and Young People (Safety) Act are insufficient to properly care for Aboriginal children in the state.

The situation is dire enough for the Commissioner to compare the predicted level of removal of Aboriginal children to that of the Stolen Generation – the historic, systemic removal of Indigenous children from their families.

It was estimated that between 10 to 33 per cent of all Aboriginal children were removed from families between 1910 to 1970, with these children termed the ‘Stolen Generation’.

“Aboriginal children have historically been and continue to be disproportionately overrepresented in the child protection system in Australia at every level, from the notification and investigation stages to removal and out-of-home care rates,” the report states.

“Data analysis conducted for this inquiry indicates that Aboriginal children in South Australia come into contact with child protection at a staggeringly disparate proportion when compared to non-Aboriginal children, and that disparity commences from pregnancy right throughout their childhood.”

The report finds that one out of every two Aboriginal children were subject to at least one child protection notification in 2020/21, compared to non-Aboriginal children where just one in every 12 children were subject to such a notification.

The report also discovered declining rates of removed children being placed with family or kin. Just 16.4 per cent of Aboriginal children were reunified with their birth families on a national level – in SA that rate is even lower at 9.9 per cent.

Further, the rates of over-representation of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care have been trending upward over the past 10 years. The report said if the current trends continue, the number of Aboriginal children in out-of-home-care will increase by a further 50 per cent over the next decade.

In SA, it is predicted that without change there will be as many as 140 of every 1000 Aboriginal children in state care by 2031.

“If this predicted increase is realised, Aboriginal children will be being removed in numbers close to those of the Stolen Generation,” the report said.

Ultimately the report contemplates drastic changes to the Children and Young People (Safety) Act which “bears an imprint from the historical removal policy that remains to this day”.

“It results in greater visibility of Aboriginal children to a system which unconsciously still operates to identify and separate Aboriginal children from their families and communities and perpetuates the highly disproportionate rates of removal compared to non-Aboriginal children,” the report said.

“The Commissioner’s initial observation is that despite the presence of the five elements of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle in current DCP policy, the way it is described in policy and applied in practice in the child protection system simply does not address the truth for many Aboriginal children, that removals beget removals.”

The inquiry into the removal and placement of Aboriginal children in South Australia will soon begin public hearings and will conclude with a final report and recommendations in early 2024.

The full preliminary report, including the 17 recommended changes to the Children and Young People (Safety) Act, can be read here.