Aboriginal organisations will lead the response to child protection investigations about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families through a new pilot, in an effort to reduce the over-representation of Aboriginal children in care.
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The move will be announced by the Victorian government's minister for child protection, Luke Donnellan, at the Aboriginal Children's Forum in Ballarat on Wednesday.
The Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA) and Bendigo and District Aboriginal Co-operative (BDAC) have been selected as the two Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) to undertake the pilot.
It will involve Aboriginal-led teams providing tailored and culturally-minded approaches alongside child protection officers.
The aim of the pilot is to reduce the over-representation of Aboriginal children in care and facilitating Aboriginal models of care delivered by the organisations.
Mr Donnellan said the $11.6 million pilot would put Aboriginal Victorians at the centre of decision making.
"By ensuring Aboriginal children are in Aboriginal care and continuing to transition case management to Aboriginal community organisations we're helping kids remain connected with their community and country and supporting reunification with their families wherever possible," Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Gabrielle Williams, added.
By ensuring Aboriginal children are in Aboriginal care and continuing to transition case management to Aboriginal community organisations we're helping kids remain connected with their community and country and supporting reunification with their families wherever possible
- Gabrielle Williams
The twentieth Aboriginal Children's Forum will be hosted at the Ballarat and Aboriginal District Cooperative (BADAC) and attended by ACCOs from across the state as well as other elected representatives.
It comes after the state government launched the Yoo-rrook Justice Commission on Tuesday to explore the historical and ongoing injustices committed against Indigenous people across all areas of social, political and economic life.
Independent of government and with the powers of a royal commission, it will recommend reforms and help to guide the state's treaty negotiations with communities.
The state's First Peoples' Assembly, an elected body set up to create the framework that will guide treaty negotiations, voted last year to call for a truth and justice commission.
"It's hard to describe what this will mean for our old people, our ancestors, our elders who have fought decades and decades for this," assembly co-chair Marcus Stewart said.
"We now have the opportunity to tell the true side of history - not a side that's been dismissed, not a side that's been denied."
Co-chair Aunty Geraldine Atkinson said the process would be traumatic for many.
"Our ancestors endured genocide, massacres and that truth needs to be told," she said. "It will only draw us closer to the wider community, who will then understand about the impacts of past injustices, the intergenerational trauma that our young fellas are facing today."
Establishing a process to facilitate truth-telling in Australia was one of the recommendations in the Uluru Statement from the Heart in 2017.
Five commissioners are being sought to lead the inquiry, with the majority to be Indigenous.
The inquiry is expected to run for three years, with public hearings expected to begin within months.
- With AAP
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