The protection of cultural identity in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children exiting from Statutory Out of Home Care via Permanent Care Orders: Further observations on the risk of cultural disconnection to inform a policy and legislative reform framework

Kyllie Cripps, Julian Laurens

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children continue to be significantly overrepresented across all age groups in the Australian Out-of-Home Care system ('OOHC'). Recent data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare paints a worrying trend. From 2010 to 30 June 2015, the rate by which Indigenous children were placed in OOHC care rose from 40.4 to 52.5 per 1000 children. For the same period, the non-Indigenous rate rose only slightly from 5.1 to 5.5 per 1000 children. This disparity was evident across all jurisdictions, though there were fluctuations. Overall, nationally the rate of Indigenous children entering OOHC was 9.5 times that for non-Indigenous children. Of the 43 399 children in OOHC at June 2015, 15 455 were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)70-87
Number of pages18
JournalAustralian Indigenous Law Review
Volume19
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - 2016
Externally publishedYes

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