Human Rights Watch report shows DV, homelessness can lead to Indigenous children being taken into care
The Human Rights Watch report found Indigenous mothers who were victims of domestic violence were so fearful of losing their children they refused to seek help from authorities. (Supplied: Human Rights Watch)
In short:
A new Human Rights Watch report has revealed how factors beyond their control, including domestic violence and homelessness, can lead to Indigenous mothers losing their children to state care.
WA has a high rate of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care and spends far less on family support services than any state or territory in Australia.
What's next?
The state government and the Department of Communities say they are working to reduce the massive over-representation of Indigenous children in out-of-home care.
When Molly was hospitalised after her partner assaulted her, authorities took her baby away.
When Briana was unable to find stable housing for herself and her baby, the same thing happened.
Their situations are far from unique, as a new report into the massive and growing over-representation of Indigenous children in out-of-home care in Western Australia shows.
Released today, the Human Rights Watch report includes interviews with 54 parents and grandparents who had children removed by WA's Department of Communities.
Women avoid getting DV, medical help
Their stories reveal often disturbing first person accounts of women staying in abusive relationships because they are afraid their children will be taken from them if they seek help.
"Because of the assaults from my second partner, the father of my son, I went to the hospital and then the hospital got involved in and called the Department of Communities," Molly C (a pseudonym) is quoted in the report.
"Because my baby … was with me at the time when I went to hospital and then they came in and took my son."
Briana's story is similar.
"They never had an issue with my parenting until I didn't have a roof over my head," Briana told HRW researchers.
"Just because someone's homeless we shouldn't be taking the child off them. You should be offering them more help, if anything."
More children taken in WA
WA has the second highest rate of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care of the states and territories in Australia.
Yet less than 5 per cent of the WA's government's child protection budget is spent on family support services, compared with a national average of 15 per cent, according to the Productivity Commission.
That number has grown relentlessly over the last two decades.
WA has the highest rate of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care of any state or territory in Australia. (Supplied: Human Rights Watch)
Almost 60 per cent of all children in care in WA are Indigenous — 3,178 in total — compared with 35 per cent (671 Indigenous children children) in 2003. Yet Aboriginal children comprise just seven per cent of all WA children.
But the Department of Communities said there had been record funding into early intervention and family support services to address the over-representation of Aboriginal families.
This included family and support services led or run in partnership with Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations to ensure the department's actions were "culturally responsive" and any decision to take children into care involved Aboriginal organisations and was "last resort".
DV 'cycle of despair'
The HRW report, authored by former journalist Annabel Hennessy, identified domestic violence as the most common reason children were removed from their parents.
According to the report, these removals are sometimes done in haste without offering proper support services to the women victims, including help to them find stable accommodation and thus ensure their children are taken only as an absolute last resort.
"They've been victim survivors of domestic violence, and then they're being punished again by authorities who, instead of helping them, have removed their children," Ms Hennessy said.
Megan Krakouer, a Noongar community advocate who helped with some of the HRW interviews and is now a senate candidate for the Australia's Voice party, said it was heartbreaking.
"The power imbalance, constant surveillance and lack of support are an overkill, forcing families into a cycle of despair," she said.
Poverty seen as neglect
The report said some of the department's policy documents showed it viewed a lack of adequate housing, usually resulting from poverty, as a form of neglect.
"Poverty should never be a reason for removing a child from their parent," Ms Hennessy said.
The report said mothers facing domestic violence received an inadequate response from authorities "who failed to protect them from violence and then exacerbated their trauma by removing their children".
In the report, Indigenous women spoke of being punished for situations beyond their control, including homelessness. (Supplied: Human Rights Watch)
"Under international law, removing a child from their parents is always meant to be an option of last resort, and what we found is that is really not the case," Ms Hennessy said.
"If there's early support, early intervention, that is genuinely about helping, not policing, that can make a real difference."
Stolen Generation support urged
The report recommended automatic free legal advice for families who come into contact with the child protection system, and a requirement for authorities to make "active efforts", as in other states, to keep children connected to family, culture, community, and country.
It wants a redress scheme for survivors of the Stolen Generations and a specific commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People.
Commissioner for Children and Young People WA Jacqueline McGowan-Jones says early intervention is crucial in preventing Indigenous children being removed from their families. (Supplied)
WA's Commissioner for Children and Young People Jacqueline McGowan-Jones said it was essential the response of authorities change from reaction to prevention.
"There are a lot of children who need to be removed for their safety and wellbeing," Ms McGowan-Jones said.
"But we also need to fund early intervention, early supports, wraparound supports and a holistic child and family wellbeing strategy, so that what we do is reduce the numbers of kids in out of home care."
A WA government spokesperson said it was committed to addressing the over-representation of Aboriginal children in care, and had signed a national 10-year plan to improve the lives of children vulnerable to abuse and neglect.
Loading