Aboriginal Agency Capacity Building
An essential principle of the transition is a commitment that Aboriginal children and young people be cared for by Aboriginal carers and Aboriginal caseworkers within accredited community-controlled Aboriginal agencies.
This ensures that, wherever possible, Aboriginal children remain within their community and maintain their cultural connections. This is essential to ensure the healthy development and future of Aboriginal children and their communities.
Reversing over-representation
Approximately 27% of children and young people in out-of-home care are Aboriginal. This is highly disproportionate (compared to 10% of Aboriginal children in the general community), and a well-considered approach must be taken to help reverse this trend. The out-of-home care transition program is part of this approach.
AbSec staff within the Transition Program Office (TPO) are leading the Aboriginal capacity building project, which supports the growth and development of accredited Aboriginal out-of-home care providers to achieve this important transition principle.
Aboriginal Capacity Building Project
The Aboriginal NGO capacity building project aims to strengthen Aboriginal communities to support the development of up to 18 new Aboriginal community-controlled out-of-home care agencies. Many of these agencies will be in geographical locations that currently have limited service delivery.
The capacity-building project aims to build resilience and create effective service delivery through development of a skilled and qualified Aboriginal workforce and accredited agencies.
Capacity building involves a range of strategies in relation to the development of Aboriginal OOHC services across the state. These include: direct consultation with communities, negotiations with existing agencies and potential organisations in both the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal sector.
Capacity building sits within the Transition Team at AbSec. The TPO Capacity Building Officer provides advice and assistance on a range of transition issues, including the development of MOUs and other partnership arrangements.