The 2018 Family Matters Report, released today, reveals the scale of the growing crisis.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were 10 times more likely to be in out-of-home care than non-Indigenous children in 2016-17, the report stated.

Indigenous children were also seven times more likely to be subject to a permanent care order.

Less than half of the Indigenous children in care were placed with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander carers.

“The trajectory over the next 20 years has worsened since the last Family Matters report,” the 105-page document stated.

“It is clear that without substantial and effective policy initiatives to strengthen prevention and early intervention, progress toward achieving the campaign goal will continue to be minimal.”

Developing a national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s strategy, inclusive of generational targets, was among the report’s recommendations.

BDAC chief executive Raylene Harradine said Victoria’s Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations were among those calling for change.

“We are calling for a target and strategy to increase proportional investment in evidence-informed and culturally supportive prevention and early intervention services accessible for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families,” she said.

While she felt Victoria was leading the way in Aboriginal self-determination, it was clear there was still work to be done.

“We’re constantly seeing children coming into child protection notifications,” Ms Harradine said.

There were 583 children and young people in out-of-home care in the Loddon area as of October’s end, 197 of whom identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.

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Ms Harradine noted a particular increase in children either coming into the care of BDAC or coming in to use services.

She said family violence was one of the underlying issues. Others included poverty, particularly housing stress, and a lack of employment.

The factors Ms Harradine said were at play in central Victoria were also highlighted in the report, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people accounting for quarter of clients accessing homelessness services.

“Of those clients, one in four was a child under the age of 10 years,” the report said.

“In 2016-17, emotional abuse – which can include exposure to family violence – was the most common primary child protection concern for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.”

Ms Harradine identified opportunities to work with families experiencing disadvantage earlier than was often the case.

“We usually see our people come when thing are in crisis and not coming in when minor things have happened from a health point-of-view, especially around increasing our Aboriginal children’s checks,” she said.

“If we’re to undertake those more with our community and be more proactive instead of being reactive, we can nip some of these things in the bud and determine what other services our community requires.”

BDAC is not yet able to offer maternal and child health services on-site.

“We find a lot of our people are not going to mainstream services in regard to maternal and child health services,” Ms Harradine said.

She would also like to be able to offer occupational therapy and speech therapy services at BDAC, which aims to provide wraparound services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members.

“Those are some of the things that aren’t accessible in a timely manner for our young people and their families,” Ms Harradine said.

“If you don’t get them young, it can have a massive effect on our little ones as they grow up.”

Only 17 per cent of child protection funding in 2016-17 was spent on support services for children and their families, the Family Matters Report stated.

The bulk of the funding – 83 per cent – went into child protection services.

“The pace of investment and action in prevention and early intervention is slow,” Family Matters chair Natalie Lewis said.

“Efforts to address broader community and social issues that contribute to risk for our children across areas such as housing, justice, violence and poverty, remain vastly inadequate and lack coordination.”

The Family Matters campaign aims to eliminate the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care by 2040.

One of the few positives in the report was a noted shift in policy settings toward best practice principles.

“These instances of increased alignment with the building blocks provide promise that with increased and sustained efforts we can begin to turn the tide,” the report said.

Ms Harradine was optimistic about the potential to improve the outcomes for Indigenous children and families in Victoria, which she said was leading the way in Aboriginal self-determination.

Next week, BDAC will become the second Aboriginal organisation in Australia authorised to assume legal responsibility for the welfare of Aboriginal children on child protection orders.

Both of the authorised organisations are Victorian.

The 2018 Family Matters Report was released at the Healing Our Spirit Worldwide Conference in Sydney.

Ms Harradine was in Sydney today presenting at the Improving Outcomes for Vulnerable Children conference.

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