Working With Aboriginal Children In Care

Aboriginal children are significantly overrepresented in care across the nation and in South Australia.

After much needed and publicised reform over the past few years, the Department of Child Protection appears to be undergoing a re-orientation of the way it works with Aboriginal children and families

The Department has recently released three policy statements – a Reconciliation Action Plan, Aboriginal Employment Policy and a departmental Aboriginal Action Plan.

Significantly the Aboriginal Action Plan adopts the Aboriginal Child Placement Principles, which have been championed by community groups in recent years.

With the launch of the reports, Lucy Kingston spoke to two key Aboriginal staff at the Department of Child Protection – Lenore Bagnara, a Narungga Kaurna woman who is Aboriginal Employment Consultant and Tracy Rigney a Narungga Njarrindjeri woman, who is Director of Aboriginal Practice at the Department.

Find out more here: HTTPS://WWW.CHILDPROTECTION.SA.GOV.AU/

Image: Tracy Rigney (l) and Lenore Bagnara (r) in front of an artwork representing the department’s approach to care for Aboriginal children


SANTS acknowledges that the land on which our office is based is the traditional lands for the Kaurna people and we respect their spiritual and cultural relationship with their country.