Aboriginal Guardianship Support Model for better outcomes

To provide your insight about Aboriginal Guardianship Support visit our guardianship contact page or read on for further information.

About the Aboriginal Guardianship Support Model

In 2020 AbSec is seeking to address issues arising from the shift to Guardianship orders. Through Commissioning, AbSec wants to develop a model for Guardianship support, and establish a network of available service, supports and resources to be delivered by Aboriginal community controlled organisations to ensure that Aboriginal children on guardianship orders have access to the supports they and their families need to thrive.

AbSec would like to talk to people that have been affected by the shift to Guardianship orders, particularly those living in the Hunter and South West Sydney areas, as guardians are not eligible for ongoing assistance and support from DCJ or an out-of-home care agency to help them meet the long-term needs of a child or young person with a guardianship order.

People affected are invited to talk to us at each stage of the process, as part of:

• A needs assessment: provides information on the social needs or issues related to the shift to guardianship orders and the criteria for prioritising needs to be addressed.
• Co-design of supports: combines lived experience and professional expertise to identify and create an outcome or product, in this case supports to address needs arising from the shift to guardianship orders. The supports will be limited to what we can afford under the set budget.
• Design of procurement: engaging providers to deliver co-designed services.
• Reviewing the approach: learning from our experience.

Community involvement

We will be involving the community in the commissioning process from beginning to end. Collective and collaborative planning processes using co-design are being implemented in trial sites in the Hunter and South Western Sydney with Aboriginal children & families, as well as Aboriginal organisations, NGOs and associated agencies in a position to drive change based on the needs of those communities.

AbSec and guardianship orders

AbSec’s advocacy for an effective model of support provision for Aboriginal children and young people on guardianship orders does not alter AbSec’s opposition to these or other permanent care orders. It remains AbSec’s view that such orders inherently fail to safeguard Aboriginal children and young people in out-of-home care and do not promote their best interests, including their rights to safety, to family, to community, to culture and identity, and to ongoing support and periodic review of their placement and treatment.

A Guardianship Support Model reflects AbSec’s commitment to all Aboriginal children and young people, in recognition that there is a large cohort of Aboriginal children and young people affected by guardianship orders who may require additional supports that are not routinely available to this population group.