Abstract
The Bringing Them Home report clearly demonstrates that colonial intrusion into Aboriginal family life is both a dark chapter in Australia’s shameful past and an ongoing problem for the Australian state. The report offered recognition of past injustices and symbolic atonement for the misdeeds of colonisation, while simultaneously calling for a transformation of the current policies and practices that operate to exclude Aboriginal people from decision-making processes relating to the care and protection of their children (National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families [NISATSIC] 1997, Recommendation 43). In so doing, it called attention to the fact that Aboriginal children remain significantly over-represented within the child protection system across all jurisdictions.
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Notes
- 1.
The research adopts a qualitative approach and employs in-depth interviewing, participant observations and discussion circle methods. Fieldwork commenced in May 2014 and concluded in December 2016.
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Legislation
Aborigines Protection Act 1909
Child Welfare Act 1939
Children and Young Persons (Care and Protection) Act 1998
Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978
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Ciftci, S. (2018). Making Space for Indigenous Justice in the Child Welfare and Protection Context. In: Hendry, J., Tatum, M., Jorgensen, M., Howard-Wagner, D. (eds) Indigenous Justice. Palgrave Socio-Legal Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-60645-7_8
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