18 years on the removal of Aboriginal children is worse than ever

A research professor at the University of NSW believes that despite the National Apology to the Stolen Generations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are still being removed from their families at unprecedented and escalating rates.

Associate Professor BJ Newton says that despite the national apology in 2008 by then prime minister Kevin Rudd, governments continue to remove children at high rates.

The National Apology speech gave Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people hope that the era of widespread state-sanctioned child removals would end, and that governments would commit to genuine restorative justice.

Instead, the opposite has occurred, she said.

• At the time of the Apology, 9,070 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children lived in out-of-home care (OOHC).
• As of 30 June 2024, that number has more than doubled to 19,987, not including thousands more placed on guardianship orders.

“This escalation reflects the ongoing failure of governments to confront systemic racism within child protection systems,” A/Prof. Newton said.

“From around 2012, jurisdictions across Australia adopted US-designed Structured Decision Making tools – assessment frameworks now proven to be racially biased.

Reunification difficult

“Queensland and New South Wales have since suspended the tools, with other jurisdictions reviewing their use.”

And no government has moved to restore the 22,000-plus Aboriginal children currently in out-of-home-care who were removed during the period in which these discredited tools were used, A/Prof. Newton has asserted.

“Once children enter OOHC, legislative and bureaucratic barriers make reunification extremely difficult,” A/Prof. Newton said.

A/Prof. Newton has also noted that even the Apology speeches themselves foreshadowed today’s failures.

“Today, the Closing the Gap Target 12, which aims to reduce the over-representation of Aboriginal children in OOHC by 45 per cent by 2031, is failing,” she said.

“Governments continue to remove children at high rates, while refusing to address the structural drivers of child removal or restore children currently living in OOHC.

“Aboriginal communities have more than two centuries of evidence that government interventions continue to prioritise control over Aboriginal self-determination.

“Genuine change requires governments to step aside and support Aboriginal-led, rights-based, anti-colonial systems of care.”

Key points

• The number of Aboriginal children in Out-of-home-care has more than doubled since the National Apology. Governments must stop unnecessary removals and restore children to their families.
• The Apology failed to acknowledge that child protection systems continued to remove children without justification – and still do today.
• The National Apology speeches included harmful stereotypes and minimisation of past injustices, reflecting broader systemic racism that persists in contemporary policies.
• Despite recognising the importance of Aboriginal community control in principle, governments have not acted on genuine self-determination or community-led decision making.

A/Prof. Newton is leading “Sorry, Not Sorry: 18 Days of Recognising 18 Years Since the National Apology to the Stolen Generations” on LinkedIn, sharing daily insights into the continuing Stolen Generations and ongoing systemic violence experienced by Aboriginal children and families.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/bj-newton-57a48399/