Australia: Disproportionate Removal Of Aboriginal Children, Says HRW Report
Western Australia’s child protection authorities are disproportionately removing children from Aboriginal families and placing them in out-of-home care, Human Rights Watch said in a report released Wednesday. Children continue to be removed from their homes nearly two decades after the Australian government issued an apology to First Nations peoples for forcibly removing their children.
The 86-page report, “‘All I Know Is I Want Them Home’: Disproportionate Removal of Aboriginal Children from Families in Western Australia,” describes how authorities in the state of Western Australia have been quick to remove children from Aboriginal mothers fleeing domestic violence and from Aboriginal parents without adequate housing, rather than providing appropriate services to address domestic violence and homelessness. Western Australia has the highest rate of overrepresentation of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care of any state or territory in Australia, and Aboriginal children are more than 20 times more likely to be living in out-of-home care than non-Indigenous children.
“Child protection authorities are removing Aboriginal children from their families at shockingly high rates in Western Australia because of a system that focuses more on policing families than providing them needed support,” said Annabel Hennessy, Australia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Separating children from their families inflicts lasting trauma and should only be an option of last resort.”
Human Rights Watch and the Western Australian nongovernmental organization, the National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Recovery Project, interviewed 54 people, including parents and grandparents from whom the state Department of Communities had removed children, children currently in care, and young adults who had grown up in care. Human Rights Watch did not receive a response to a letter it sent to the Department of Communities with questions relating to its findings.
Care can include foster care, relatives, and residential group homes, usually staffed by social workers.
The Department of Communities, which in Western Australia is responsible for out-of-home care, investigates families and removes children when they suspect harm is taking place or is likely to take place.
The number of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care in Western Australia has skyrocketed over the past two decades. In 2003, 570 Aboriginal children were in out-of-home care, 35 percent of those in care. By 2023, this number had risen to 3,068 Aboriginal children, 59 percent.
Among the families interviewed, domestic violence was the most common reason cited for the department removing their children. This aligns with the Department of Communities’ own data. Human Rights Watch found that the government provided inadequate housing for domestic violence survivors.
Some women described fearing a “victim-blaming” approach from department case workers. Several said that they stayed in abusive relationships because they were afraid the department would remove their children if they sought help. Some women avoided seeking medical assistance after incidents of domestic violence because they were afraid they would lose their children.
Some policy documents on neglect seemed to treat a lack of adequate housing – a symptom of poverty – as neglect, Human Rights Watch said.
“Aboriginal families are struggling with unstable accommodation, yet a secure home – one of the most fundamental needs for a child to thrive – is denied to them,” said Marianne Headland Mackay, a Noongar woman and National Suicide Prevention and Trauma Recovery Project support coordinator. “Instead of offering support to struggling families, the government’s approach is to remove children, causing more damage and deepening the wounds in our communities.”
The Western Australian government has failed to address harm caused by the “Stolen Generations”: a period up until the 1970s when government officials intentionally targeted Aboriginal children for removals as part of racist policies designed to “absorb” Aboriginal people into the white population. In Western Australia, Stolen Generations survivors were never provided redress. Many families said they were descendants of Stolen Generations survivors. One grandmother revealed that her family had endured six generations of child removals.
Despite having the highest overrepresentation of Aboriginal children in its care system, Western Australia spends the least of any state or territory on family support programs. It allocates less than 5 percent of its child protection budget to such programs, compared with a national average of 15 percent.
While the stated aim of the child protection system is to protect children from harm, children can be abused in the out-of-home care system. In several cases documented, children experienced sexual, physical, and emotional abuse in out-of-home care.
The Western Australian government should ensure that families have access to adequate support early, including access to legal representation. The government should guarantee that First Nations people are central to decision-making on child protection policy. The state government should establish a commissioner to initiate inquiries, and receive and determine individual complaints relating to Aboriginal children in out-of-home care.
“The Western Australian government should urgently address and end these failed, punitive policies that result in removing Aboriginal children from their families and communities,” Hennessy said. “A complete system overhaul is long overdue, and should start with a new state commissioner for Aboriginal children and young people with powers to investigate out-of-home care complaints.”
