Keeping Them Home: Aboriginal Out-of-Home Care in Australia

Abstract

This article examines the foster care1 (referred to as out-of-home care) of Aboriginal children2 in Australia. It discusses the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle (ACPP), the role of indigenous kinship care,3 and the self-determination of Aboriginal people. Given the history of Australia's stolen generations (generations of Aboriginal children who were forcibly removed from their families), the primary concern is to keep Aboriginal children at home within their families, communities, and culture. All Australian jurisdictions support the concept of Aboriginal self-determination and the ACPP. However, they do so from within a framework informed by non-Aboriginal values. As a consequence, Aboriginal people are frustrated about mainstream understanding of self-determination and the ACPP. The authors argue that for both of these objectives to be achieved culturally appropriate policies and practices are needed.