The Wire

Comments that sensitivities over the Stolen Generation have made people reluctant to remove children from abusive homes have raised debate over what’s best for Aboriginal kids. Mick Gooda, Chief Executive of the Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal Health, made the comments to a childhood conference in Alice Springs. With nearly one thousand Indigenous children needing foster care on any given day in New South Wales alone, it’s not always possible for government agencies to find Aboriginal carers. Mr Gooda says when faced with that situation, organisations are reluctant to remove the children and place them with non-Indigenous families. But Julian Pockock from the Secretariat of National and Aboriginal Child Care, or SNAICC, says that’s not what’s happening. Mr Pocock says it’s not a matter of agencies being reluctant to remove abused children, rather it’s about not having anywhere to remove them too.