Supporting care arrangements to be culturally safe

There are many ways to ensure the care arrangement for an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person is culturally safe. This means, they would be provided with a safe and positive environment where there is no assault, challenge or denial of their identity and they would be supported and nurtured by the carer and their family to be themselves to speak their language, express their culture, their spiritual and belief systems. (Source: SNAICC https://www.supportingcarers.snaicc.org.au/connecting-to-culture/cultural-safety/).

Legislative requirements

The legislation in relation to deciding where and with whom Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children will live, requires that priority be given to the child being placed with their family, community or clan where possible. (Child Protection Act 1999, section 83(4)-(5)).

Safe Care and Connection is an intentional practice approach in relation to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children. The Child Protection Act 1999, section 5C, provides legislative support for this approach and:

• recognises the right of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples to self-determination
• considers the long-term impacts of decisions on a child’s identity, connection with family, culture and community
• includes the five elements of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle in all components of our work – prevention, partnership, placement, participation and connection.

When an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander child is placed in care, including a short break care arrangement, consideration must be given to:

• the views of the child and parents
• ensuring the decision provides for the optimal retention of the child’s relationships with parents, siblings and other people of significance to the child under Aboriginal tradition or Island custom
• placing the child, in order of priority with (Child Protection Act 1999, sections 83(4)-(8):

1. a member of the child’s family group
2. a member of the child’s community or language group
3. an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person who is compatible with the child’s community or language group
4. another Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person
5. a person who lives near the child’s family, community or language group who can ensure the child’s connection to kin, country and culture

Supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kinship care arrangements

The most appropriate care arrangement option for an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander child is with their Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander family members. Family supporting children they did not give birth to is a common and expected kinship structure in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.

As explored in the Seeing and understanding section, children have many aunts, uncles, mothers, sisters and cousins. When these family members take on a formal role in the child protection system, their role changes from being aunty to being an approved kinship carer, bound by many rules and expectations.

It is the role of the practitioner to help the kinship carer adjust to both roles, and work with the kinship carer to still be aunty and maintain their role in their family, while also working in partnership with Child Safety.

There are many benefits to kinship care. There are also many potential barriers to safely supporting the kinship carer and the children in care. For example:

• The relationship between the kinship carer and their family may be strengthened or may deteriorate. It is important to nurture the relationship between the kinship carer and their family, as they may be the main members of the safety and support network for them and the child.
• Family members may not like that the kinship carer receives a foster carer allowance for caring for a child when there are many informal care arrangements in the community where family members don’t get an allowance.
• Family members may see the kinship carer working with Child Safety and exclude the kinship carer from family events.

When developing the placement agreement with kinship carers, be aware of these and any other worries the kinship carer raises. Encourage the kinship carer to open up by using appreciative inquiry questioning techniques and asking if they are aware of any other community members who have experienced something similar and how they handled the situation.

Drawing on the kinship carer’s strengths to overcome their worries will contribute to their sense of control and power of the situation, as well as reinforce the kinship carer as the decision maker in their own life (rather than them perceiving Child Safety as ‘taking over’).

Family contact when children are with kinship carers occurs naturally if the kinship carer and the parents and extended family members have positive relationships. If there are any safety issues, discuss the ability of the kinship carer to supervise the child during family contact. Explore a range of ‘what ifs’ to come up with a safe contact plan. If your assessment finds that the kinship carer is able to support or supervise contact, consider if the kinship carer is open to having family members visit the child in their home and attend family events together and support regular phone calls between the children and their family.

Care arrangements with non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander carers

Arranging care arrangements for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children with non-Indigenous carers should only be considered after all other options have been extensively explored.

Prior to placing an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child with a carer who is not an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person, practitioners need to ensure that the child’s proposed carer is committed to:

• facilitating connection between the child and their family members, unless restrictions have been imposed under the Child Protection Act 1999, section 87
• helping the child to develop and maintain a connection with their community and language group
• helping to maintain a connection with their Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander culture
• preserving and enhancing the child’s sense of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander identity
• implementing any actions required of the carer within the child’s cultural support plan

If a child is to be placed with a non-Indigenous carer, the person must live near the child’s family, community or language group and be able and willing to ensure the child’s connection to kin, community and culture. This will include continuing to support the child to visit their parents, siblings and extended family, to attend events of cultural significance and participate in daily activities and rituals which the family hold as important to help develop and nurture the child’s connection to culture and community. 

The carer should be supported to seek out and continue learning culturally specific information in relation to the child, their family and community, which can be provided to the child as per advice and guidance from the child’s family.

Care arrangements with non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander carers need extra support to ensure they are culturally safe. Some ways of supporting care arrangements to increase the cultural safety include:

Informed and culturally safe placement agreements, can include:

• the child’s language group, country and what contributes to their cultural identity, how they can feel culturally safe, and any languages they may wish to speak.
• the carer’s negotiated undertakings for family contact arrangements
• training/educational information for the carers to learn about the child’s culture
• what the carers may do as part of the care arrangement to support the child’s connection to culture and country.

Informed and culturally safe cultural support plans, can include:

• the child’s language group, country and what contributes to their cultural identity, how they can feel culturally safe, and any languages they may wish to speak.
• who in the community will contribute to the child’s connection to culture and how
• visits to country (if not placed on country)
• the family’s wishes for the child’s culture and who is responsible for teaching the child. (For example, the uncle teaches the nephew to fish and hunt rather than the father.)

Having carers and the family members regularly meeting to share stories about the child and seek the family members’ input into the child’s routine, learning and connection to culture. As part of this, the carer:

• can meet with the family before and after family contact to develop a relationship
• facilitates regular family contact
• invites family members to doctors’ visits and school events and to their house for special occasions.

How to support differences in child rearing practices

Being aware of and integrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ child rearing practices helps children and families feel that they belong, and supports important cultural practices. Understanding and embracing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child rearing strategies is crucial in ensuring continuity for children between home and care arrangements.

Here are some tips about how to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child rearing practices:

• Seek out and respect families’ values and beliefs about child rearing.
• Encourage the family to come together to connect.
• Support families in their parenting role.
• View children as independent, capable beings.
• Keep in mind that children can be responsible for looking after each other, so it is not appropriate to separate children’s activities according to their age.  This also means older children may be responsible or supportive of younger children’s routines.
• Don’t blame a child harshly if he/she is wrong.
• Accommodate the children’s sleeping routine and arrangements.
• Respect the views expressed by the child and try to negotiate where possible to satisfy them and their needs.