Bringing-Them-Home-Report-Web

The criteria are alien to aboriginal values and lifestyle and few aboriginal families meet them all(Sommerlad 1977 page 170).A focus on Aboriginal values and practices can neglect the quite different values andcustoms of Torres Strait Islanders. It is potentially discriminatory to include Torres StraitIslanders, in legislation, policy and practice, under the rubric ‘Aboriginal’. Their differentvalues are less likely to be accorded respect.Cultural renewalChildren are the most precious of cultural resources. Adoption practice whichemphasises their retention in their communities will best enable those communities tosecure their cultural survival. The Aboriginal Child Placement Principle directs adoptionagencies to prefer people who have the appropriate cultural relationship with the child.Coherent policy baseAdoption practice in relation to Indigenous children needs to be consistent withIndigenous family welfare practice generally. There remain significant differences withinjurisdictions in relation to child welfare and adoption on key matters such as whether theChild Placement Principle is entrenched in legislation and what role is played byAboriginal and Islander child care agencies. In NSW for example the Principle isentrenched in welfare legislation but not in adoption legislation. In South Australiagazetted Aboriginal agencies play a role in welfare placements but not in adoptionplacements.Adequate resourcesTwo key resource issues arise in this context. The most significant is the resourcingof Indigenous agencies,• to consider the situation of each child referred fully: including thorough research intothe child’s and parents’ background and family and community connections,• to recruit, train and provide continuing support to prospective Indigenous adoptiveparents,• to counsel prospective relinquishing parents: including tracing the child’s father andhis family to ensure they are consulted and being able to access family supportinformation as needed.As discussed in Chapter 21, AICCAs are inadequately resourced to perform theseroles as effectively as needed.The second resource-related issue is that of the training provided to adoptiondecision-makers, notably departmental officers, workers in non-government adoptionagencies, judges and, in Tasmania, magistrates. All require thorough induction in theprinciples underlying the legislation and departmental policy relating to the placement ofIndigenous children. The skills needed by the departmental officer and adoption agency