Excerpt from an opinion piece by Aunty Debra Swan:
Our fight for our children is ongoing. I’ve fought for years, both inside the system and out of it, trying to keep our kids at home. I am a proud Gomeroi woman and the matriarch of my family, and this struggle has been fought by my people for generations. This struggle for our kids to stay safe with their families is not just a burst of activism; it is a generational battle that demands our unwavering commitment. In the words of the late US civil rights activist John Lewis, “Ours is the struggle of a lifetime, or maybe even many lifetimes.”
A report released today shows why our fight for our children must be ongoing. The Aboriginal Legal Service, AbSec, the Justice and Equity Centre, and Jumbunna Institute have found that, five years on from an independent review in 2019, only 12 out of 126 recommendations have been fully implemented by the NSW government.
Aboriginal children and families are still being left at the mercy of a multibillion-dollar industry that often disregards our cultural ways of knowing, being and doing. The only way to move forward is through self-determination. It’s crucial that we include families in decision-making and assert our sovereignty over the care of our children.
