Commissioner April Lawrie called for state government action following the release on Monday of the Holding on to Our Future report.

The final report is based on an inquiry which started in mid-2022, examining how the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle is applied in the removal and placement of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care.

There were six headline findings, including that there is “insufficient funding” for early intervention services and that the state is “unnecessarily removing disproportionate and growing numbers of Aboriginal children from their families and communities”.

“Systemic racism and cultural bias” contributed to Aboriginal child removals, the report found, driving “disproportionate” rates of placements of children into non-Aboriginal care.

One in 10 Aboriginal children in South Australia are in state care and that number would grow to 140 in every 1000 Aboriginal children by 2031 unless reforms were undertaken, the Commissioner said.

The report also said that the Department for Child Protection had “no defined strategy to improve outcomes for Aboriginal children and young people, or a culturally appropriate accountability and oversight mechanism for monitoring its performance”.

Other findings included that “Aboriginal community voices were not included or deemed necessary” when drafting the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle, and that “the way decisions are managed and made regarding Aboriginal children’s best interests needs to change”.

“The government has been told before that investment in early intervention and support is insufficient,” the Commissioner said.

“Failure to act means that struggling, vulnerable families will continue to encounter the child protection service system at increasing rates, and that Aboriginal children being removed from their families will mean the government will pay the cost one way or another, for matters that are preventable.

“The Aboriginal community will no longer tolerate this cost to continue to be at the expense of our children and future generations.”

In total, there were 48 findings and 32 recommendations from the 176-page report tabled in state parliament today.

The inquiry heard from more than 400 Aboriginal children, young people, families, carers and community members, with nearly 900 documents and 30 case files reviewed across 19 public hearings.

The Commissioner said that Aboriginal children comprised less than six per cent of the population of South Australian children under 18, but represent 37.4 per cent of all children in out-of-home care.

Further, during 2022-23, one-third of all babies statutorily removed from birthing hospitals were Aboriginal, with the state recording a 116.3 per cent rise of Aboriginal children in care between 2011 to 2021.

Graph via the Holding on to our Future Report.

In a report foreward, Lawrie said she was “determined to undertake this important work” despite not receiving extra funding for the inquiry.

“We must acknowledge that we have built a system where the only option to respond to problems associated with disadvantage is to funnel families into child protection. This has to change,” she said.

“Meaningful change will only occur if as a State, we act on the lack of investment in early support that is desperately needed to shift system responses from removal, to preventing the need for any statutory involvement with effective and supportive service responses. This investment must elevate the capacity for Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations to be able to provide this early support and move away from the Department for Child Protection being the only responder.

“The child protection service system is not equipped to meet the cultural needs of Aboriginal people.”

She added that child protection agencies were “failing to take into account cultural differences, the impact of structural racism and do not routinely include Aboriginal cultural advice, or when this advice is sought it is after key decisions have been made about the children”.

“This can lead to fraught interactions between Aboriginal families and non-Aboriginal staff who do not have cultural competence or experience to understand and respond effectively to the legacy of fear and trauma that underpins contact with the child protection service system,” Lawrie said.

“The current legislation lacks balance and has shifted the emphasis too heavily towards immediate concerns over safety while disconnecting this from longer-term outcomes for children.

“It has created a risk-averse context where practitioners feel pressure to remove children without having to consider the longer-term consequences of such actions. Increasing removals of children is not a measure of success. Experience in Out-Of-Home Care does not provide children with an advantage in life. There is a growing body of evidence that shows the damaging and lifelong consequences for those children in state care.”

Lawrie described the child protection system as “institutionally racist”, and that “Aboriginal people have heard enough platitudes”.

“If nothing changes, we’ll continue the current trajectory with greater numbers of Aboriginal children being placed in state care,” she said.

“It has become self-evident over the past decades that the system is unable to transform itself.

“The government has been told before that the investment in early intervention and support is insufficient and I will say it again. Failure to act means that struggling, vulnerable families will continue to encounter the child protection service system at increasing rates, and that Aboriginal children being removed from their families will mean the government will pay the cost one way or another, for matters that are preventable. The Aboriginal community will no longer tolerate this cost to continue to be at the expense of our children and future generations.”

Child Protection Minister Katrine Hildyard told parliament that she welcomed the report.

“I hear what Commissioner Lawrie says and I share her concern,” Hildyard said.

“The current situation – where 37 per cent of children in care are Aboriginal – is unacceptable. There are multiple and complex factors that contribute to this situation and across Government, we are steadfastly committed to the national Closing the Gap targets.

“There is work ahead but our government is determined to walk alongside Aboriginal people to improve outcomes for Aboriginal children and young people and help ensure they grow up in a safe, loving environment, connected to family, community and culture.”

The minister said the report underlined why the government was providing funding of $3.2 million to establish an independent Aboriginal community-controlled peak body and an additional $13.4 million for Family Group Conferencing to help Aboriginal families.

“Improvements need to be made. The recommendations and findings are far-reaching and are being deeply considered, including in the context of steps already being taken,” Hildyard said.

“Our Government will take the appropriate time to consider the recommendations from the report and respond accordingly.

“As the Government finalises its response, it will consider how we can ensure Aboriginal people are empowered to advise how particular recommendations are progressed, with the principle of Aboriginal led decision making firmly in our hearts, minds and actions.”

Read the full report here.