Indigenous kids in care crisis needs new ideas

THE number of Australian indigenous children in state care has passed 20,000 as experts warn the problem will increase dramatically in the decades ahead unless radical steps are taken.

But Queensland appears to be the one state making progress as the recommendations made by the 2013 Carmody child protection inquiry begin to kick in.

The “Family Matters’’ report released today will reveal the full extent of out-of-home care for indigenous kids who now represent more than 37 per cent of kids in care, despite representing 5 per cent of all Australian children.

But Natalie Lewis, Queensland based co-chair of Family Matters who will be in Canberra today for the report launch, says Queensland has begun showing some improvement, and could provide a nationwide blueprint.

“It’s clear we need more early intervention and more community consultation on this issue and to some extent we are seeing that happening in Queensland,’’ she said.

“If that approach were applied across the nation I believe we would see some improvement in the situation.’’

The report finds that the number of indigenous kids in care had increased from around 17,000 in 2018-19 to more than 20,000 in 2018-19.

“At June 30, 2018, 20,421 of our children were living in outof-home care, the majority of whom will go to bed tonight in a place that is not their own, disconnected from kin, country and culture,’’ the report says.

“This is unacceptable.”

The report finds the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-ofhome care is 10.2 times that of other children, and the disproportionate representation continues to grow.

The Queensland Child Protection Commission of Inquiry headed by former Queensland Chief Justice Tim Carmody delivered its final report in 2013 and helped highlight the extent of the growing problem of kids in out-of-home care.

The Carmody Inquiry report recommended stronger early intervention and more kinship care.