Lenah arrived at a local park, expecting to meet with a child protection worker she thought would help find her family accommodation, but instead she found police and departmental officials lining the street.
Aboriginal children make up just five per cent of all children in Australia, but almost half of children in the child protection system
She will always be mourning for the one who will never come back, because they've been adopted by another family. To get them back, she underwent therapy and drug rehabilitation, but access to safe housing remained an ongoing struggle and Lenah's children were removed a few years later. Four children — sometimes up to eight, including extended family — can be living in her two-bedroom social housing unit.
The Department for Communities and Justice could not comment on Lenah's case, but said it recognised "the urgent need" to work with Aboriginal communities. Human rights lawyer and Kurin Minang woman Hannah McGlade said the system was not "geared up" to address these issues."Aboriginal mothers are effectively being punished for their own lack of housing and also being punished, really, for violence they're experiencing," the Curtin University academic said.
But between 2020-21, only about 36,000 Indigenous children accessed such services, despite 120,800 of them being investigated for abuse or neglect, the most recent Family Matters report states.Aboriginal children make up just five per cent of all children in Australia — but in the child protection system, almost half of the children are Indigenous.
"At this rate, we not only won't meet the target, we'll be fundamentally worse than at starting point," she said.
United Kingdom Latest News, United Kingdom Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Referendum defeat ‘embarrassing’ for Australia but Indigenous voice still needed, Thomas Mayo saysLeading yes campaigner urges politicians not to walk away from state-based treaties and other reconciliation projects
Read more »
Was Bennelong Australia’s most misunderstood Indigenous man?Kate Fullagar tells history in reverse in her innovative biography of both Captain Arthur Phillip and Woollarawarre Bennelong.
Read more »
National Library of Australia says yes to Indigenous voice referendum memorabiliaNational archive seeks material relating to voice referendum to help historians of the future glean insights into the debate
Read more »
Hamas Israel: Australians should unite to support Israeli and Palestinian civiliansThe Middle East eruption and its repercussions in Australia; post-mortems on the Indigenous Voice referendum.
Read more »
Tony Abbott’s solution for Indigenous Australian issues following Voice defeatTony Abbott has addressed the fallout from the Voice defeat and argued it never required a substantial amount of money to address Indigenous issues after about $450 million was reportedly spent on the referendum.
Read more »
Indigenous activism using ‘battering ram’ to break private property rightsSky News host Peta Credlin says new reforms sought by the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council would give Indigenous cultural investigators the right to enter your private property without your permission.
Read more »