Opinion: The State of Play Aboriginal Youth in South Australia

The State of Play – Aboriginal Youth in South Australia Today

JONATHON BROHIER, MEMBER OF THE ABORIGINAL ISSUES COMMITTEE

Arecent report by the Office of Guardian for Children and Young People has recently shed some light on data published in the Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services 2021(‘the Report”.)

The Report provides alarming insight into statistics concerning Aboriginal young people compared to non-Aboriginal young people in South Australia.

Aboriginal children are disproportionately represented, both in the criminal justice system and in the child protection system. Apart from the alarming degree of disproportional overrepresentation, the treatment of Aboriginal children, in these government systems also disclose a deep crisis and fundamental inability to respond appropriately to the personal, cultural, and therapeutic needs of young Aboriginal people. Such shortcomings were tragically illustrated in the death of a teenage Aboriginal girl Ms H Singh.

The findings of the Deputy State Coroner into her death were handed down on 14 November 2019. The Deputy Coroner at paragraph 16.14 stated

“In this case, a 14-year-old Aboriginal child died alone, without ever knowing her own culture and community. She languished in Emergency Care without the assistance of a dedicated team within Families SA to focus on Aboriginal children in State care and the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle. She died without the chance to be supported in her time of need by a loving foster family and without access to skilled therapeutic support. In my view, it is a deeply shameful situation.”1

The Report outlines the current state of play in South Australia today. Aboriginal children and young people comprise five percent (5%) of our youth today in South Australia i.e., young people aged between 0-17 in South Australia.

The Report firstly considered Aboriginal children and young people in care. Aboriginal young people comprise 37% of youth currently in receipt of services such as protective intervention services, family support services, intensive family support services and care services such as out-of-home care. There is a concerning decline at play in regards to Aboriginal youth in care.

Between 2015 and 2016 and compared to 2019 and 2020 the rate of Aboriginal youth in receipt of care services per 1000 children increased from 62.1 to 84.5 compared to 6 to 7.4 for non-Aboriginal youth.

There is an overrepresentation of Aboriginal youth in child protection systems. The number of Aboriginal children in out of home care is estimated to double in the next 10 years.

We need to close the gap because a significant proportion of our Aboriginal Youth are subject to risk factors that are currently requiring disproportionate State intervention.

The report considered Youth Justice Services. Again, there is an overrepresentation of Aboriginal youth. Of the average daily population of youth in detention at any day, the rate of Aboriginal children and young people in detention in South Australia is 22.7 times higher than non-Aboriginal children.

The Report has some good news however with regards to detention. The rate of Aboriginal children and young people in detention per 10,000 young people in South Australia declined to its lowest rate in five years. The average daily number of Aboriginal youth in detention decreased to 14 being approximately half that of the daily rate of 31 in 2015/2016. If this trend continues the Closing the Gap target of a 30% reduction in the representation of Aboriginal children and young people in detention by 2031 will be met and arguably South Australia should consider further revised targets.

We need to close the gap by breaking the cycle of abuse into which Aboriginal children and young people become entrapped and then in turn perpetuate as a response to the abuse and risk factors to which they are exposed. There is expert opinion supporting the need for a welfarebased approach for dealing with children who display antisocial behaviours, as these may be the product of compounding levels of disadvantage which the criminal justice system is not equipped to deal with. Juvenile detention compromises Indigeneity, removing children from family, culture and community. Undiagnosed disabilities, which can dampen a child’s abstract reasoning skills, are best addressed through a therapeutic approach which detention cannot offer. B

Endnotes 1 www.courts. sa. gov.au/coroner/ findings/2019/H Singh, at page 102 -3.