A CENTRAL Victorian Indigenous community leader sees hope for the region's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care, despite predictions that the number of children living in such care will double in the next 10 years.
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A report from Family Matters found that the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care in Victoria was 16.4 times higher than that of the general population. Across Australia the rate was 10.2 times higher.
The number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children living in out-of-home care is projected to double in the next 10 years, the report stated.
Bendigo and District Aboriginal Cooperative chief executive Raylene Harradine said while rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in care were high in Victoria, leadership from the Aboriginal community in the sector was promising.
Ms Harradine said sometimes things had to get worse before they got better.
She said even though numbers of children in out-of-home care were projected to rise, pilot guardianship programs meant Victoria was in a position to deal with the increase.
BDAC's Mutjang bupuwingarrak mukman allows the cooperative to assume legal responsibility for the welfare of Aboriginal children subject to Children's Court protection orders.
The program allows for case management from an Aboriginal community organisation, making it more likely for them to remain in Aboriginal care.
Ms Harradine said the program meant the majority of children remained with family or kin.
She said this meant they grew up in an environment where they had access to their culture.
Ms Harradine said BDAC would like to see an ongoing commitment from state government to the guardianship program.
OTHER NEWS:
The Family Matters report found the rate of placement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children with family, kin, or other Indigenous carers across Australia had dropped by about 10 per cent since 2006.
Poverty and problems accessing safe and healthy housing drove high rates of child protection intervention for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, the report stated.
While Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families were over-represented in measures of disadvantage, they were under-represented in access to services that could respond and prevent entry to out of home care, the report found.
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