One Aboriginal parent said:
“DCJ don’t work with you. That’s especially why it’s so big and important to have that good relationship with your external services. If you link yourself in with other external services, so I linked myself in with [service], which was a case working group, women’s second chance business hub. Women’s business. I was linked in with some other service, and you just get heaps of support letters. You want to show them that you have financial, mental, emotional, and social support.”
– Parent, Bring Them Home, Keep Them Home research
Some ACCO’s have services where they are supporting you for restoration or things like DFV but also hold case management for OOHC (referred to as OOHC agency) which means they will work with your child’s carer as well. Or a parent might be working with another support service (ACCO or NGO) that is separate to the OOHC agency (ACCO, NGO or DCJ) which holds case management.
Whoever has case management of your child (either DCJ, ACCO or NGO), needs to review the case plan once a year at a minimum. They should be doing this with you. There should be permanency goal reviews every 6 months with someone called a Permanency Coordinator. You may not be involved in those meetings.
If an agency has case management of your child (ACCO or NGO), they are required to follow Court orders. This includes the care plan, which says the timeline of restoration and how often family time should be happening. If the case plan goal is restoration, they should be working with the carer to make sure that they are supporting restoration of your child.
The caseworkers record-keeping needs to talk about your progress towards restoration. This can include drug testing (urinalysis results), reports from other services, and information from people you know. Home visit reports made by the OOHC agency can be helpful for the Court. This can include photos of your child’s bedroom set up, or your plans for long-term housing in the future. In this restoration documentation, the agency should be recording the views of your child, the parents, your support network and carers. They can document how the carer will help DCJ and the agency, your child, and you, in working towards restoration. They should be documenting progress relevant to everything the Court considered as part of its decision about restoration. The agency will also record their views in their documents, saying if they support restoration or evidence of you being dedicated towards seeking restoration.
AbSec and our partners acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout NSW and their continuing connections to land, waters, and communities. We also acknowledge the lands on which these stories were told, the lands of the Dharawal, Yuin and Wonnarua people.
We acknowledge the Elders, leaders and advocates that have led the way and continue to fight for our children. We also acknowledge the Stolen Generations who never came home and the ongoing impact of government policy and practice on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, young people and families.
This website shares the experiences and advice of Aboriginal families involved in the NSW child protection system who participated in the Bring Them Home, Keep Them Home research at UNSW. We acknowledge and thank the families who generously gave permission to share their stories.
These experiences reflect what worked for those families and do not constitute advice or views of AbSec. AbSec recommends seeking independent legal advice for your own circumstances.
