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and counselling is to ‘explore alternatives to adoption, including family support, custodyand guardianship options’. There is no provision for the involvement of Indigenousagencies.The survey of Queensland welfare authorities commissioned by the RoyalCommission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody found that the Aboriginal ChildPlacement Principle had not been fully or comprehensively implemented acrossQueensland due largely to the lack of proper monitoring. There was concern that somedepartmental officers were unaware of the policy (O’Connor 1990).Statutory recognition of ACPPThe remaining States and the Territories spell out the Aboriginal Child PlacementPrinciple in their adoption legislation. South Australia, the Northern Territory and theACT express a preference for placement other than adoption for Indigenous children.In SA the court must be satisfied that adoption is preferable to guardianship in thebest interests of the child before making an adoption order. This provision makesadoption an order of last resort. Once it has been decided that adoption should proceed,the order must be made in favour of a member of the child’s Aboriginal community whohas the correct relationship with the child. Only if there is no such person willing andapproved to adopt the child can an order be made for adoption by some other Aboriginalperson. If the court intends to authorise the adoption of an Aboriginal child by a non-Aboriginal person, it must be satisfied that there are special circumstances and that thechild’s cultural identity will not be lost as a result (Adoption Act 1988 section 11). Therelinquishing parent can ensure that a relative adopts the child by limiting consent toadoption only by a relative (section 15(4)). Even where consent is general, however, theACPP in section 11 will apply.The ACT legislation prevents an adoption order being made at all in the case of anAboriginal child unless the court is satisfied that it is not practicable for the child toremain in his or her parent’s custody or in the custody of a ‘responsible person’ who is amember of the child’s Indigenous community. The court also has to consider whether thechoice of adoptive parents has taken into account both the desirability of the child beingin the custody of an Indigenous community member and the desirability of the childbeing able to keep in contact with his or her birth parents and extended family and his orher entire Indigenous community (Adoption Act 1993 section 21).The NT provision is very similar while additionally making explicit reference toAboriginal customary law (Adoption of Children Act 1994 section 11). The court has adiscretion to determine that custody within the extended family or with people who havethe correct relationship with the child is not consistent with the welfare and interests ofthe child. The Act sets out the considerations relevant to the exercise of this discretion(Schedule 1). They include the principles that it is preferable for children to be placed infamilies having the same ethnic and cultural origins as the birth parent and, with respectto Aboriginal children, ‘the desire and effort of the Aboriginal community to preserve the