Indigenous children’s advocates unite in call to change Target 12
Indigenous children’s advocates have gathered at Parliament House in Canberra to push a coordinated, national response to reduce the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care, aiming to change the trajectory of Closing the Gap Target 12.
Allies for Children and the First Nations NGO Alliance, in partnership with SNAICC – National Voice for our Children, said their unified presence demonstrates that reform is both urgent and underway as Australia approaches the final five years to meet its Closing the Gap targets.
They said that progress on Target 12 has stalled nationally, with outcomes worsening in some jurisdictions.
Key Points
- Advocates rally at Parliament House to change trajectory of Target 12
- Coalition stresses reform urgency with five years left on national targets
- First Nations children are 10 times more likely in out-of-home care
- Target 12 seeks a 45 per cent reduction in care rates by 2031
- About 23,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in care
- Allies for Children oversee care for approximately 1,900 First Nations children
- SNAICC launches Transformation Principles to support ACCO-led services
Target 12 seeks to reduce the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care by 45 per cent by 2031. The groups highlighted the disproportionate impact on First Nations families, emphasising the need for practical, system-level changes driven by First Nations leadership.
Current landscape
Today, there are approximately 23,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children living in out-of-home care, and First Nations children are 10 times more likely to be in care than non-Indigenous children.
More than half of these children are placed with non-Indigenous mainstream organisations, despite evidence that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children experience better outcomes when connected to family, kin and community.
Alliance members described their collective work as a shared national effort grounded in First Nations leadership. Their focus is on practical, system-level change that strengthens children’s connections to family, culture, community and Country.
Transitioning responsibility to ACCOs
The coalition outlined a transition approach that involves the staged transfer of responsibility, resources and decision-making to Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations (ACCOs). According to the advocates, this shift enables more children to be safely supported by community and builds enduring capacity within community-controlled systems.
Allies for Children represent around 15 per cent of child and family services nationally and are collectively responsible for the care of approximately 1,900 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
As a collective, and in partnership with ACCOs, they are working to return children to family, kin and community, and to strengthen children’s cultural connections. This includes shifting resources and responsibility from mainstream services to ACCOs so communities can be better supported by organisations they control.
Calls to join the movement
The event at Parliament House also called on other mainstream organisations delivering out-of-home care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children to join the movement. The coalition urged concrete commitments that contribute to achieving Target 12 and to embed First Nations leadership in reform.
SNAICC also released its Transformation Principles to support mainstream organisations to shift child protection services to ACCOs, strengthen community-controlled capacity, and align systems with Closing the Gap commitments. The resource is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-informed, and SNAICC is providing it to the sector with encouragement to begin the transition journey.
SNAICC chief executive Catherine Liddle emphasised the need for more organisations to start the transition.
Chief executive Catherine Liddle said Allies for Children were acting rather than waiting for government to lead the response to overrepresentation in out-of-home care.
She emphasised the need for more organisations to start the transition to community-controlled models and underscored the importance of sustainable, effective change aligned with Closing the Gap Priority Reforms.
She said that transformation must be underpinned by capacity-building and workforce development to ensure the shift is effective and sustainable. SNAICC framed the new principles as a practical framework to help mainstream organisations undertake structural change and align with the commitments under Closing the Gap.
