International Journal of Social Welfare

Running head: ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Annotated bibliography
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note

TITLE: Ways of Addressing the Over-Representation of Australian Indigenous Children in Out-
Of-Home-Care System.
1. Moss, M. (2009). Broken circles to a different identity: an exploration of identity for
children in out–of‐home care in Queensland, Australia. Child & Family Social
Work, 14(3), 311-321.
The article by Moss (2009) discusses about the sense of identity loss issue for the
indigenous community and evaluates identity issues for children and young people in foster care.
It also gives an insight into identity from the perspective of professionals working in child
protection and out of home care. The data was collected using the narrative art interviews with
children aged between 4 years and 18 years. In depth profiling and family history related data
was collected to gain better understanding about lived experiences of young people. 50% of the
children in the sample had parents who were divorced and five of them were living Out-Of-
Home-Care (OOHC). All the 13 samples came from nuclear samples suggesting that these
children lost contact with their family members. There were different reasons for loss of family
contact such as father being the abuser, father being deceased, mother being unavailable or
mother not being able to care for their children. 35% of the children displayed confusion about
the identity of children too. The interview also assessed children’s sense of connection and for
children in OOHC, there was a demand for increased contact with siblings. The second stage of
the research collected data from Department of Child Safety and AICCA and the main issues
raised by workers were detrimental impact of lack of indigenous cares, lack of trust and funding
and lack of research into children’s background on practice. The main contribution of this paper
to the topic is that it explains key differences in connectedness, self esteem and psychological
well people of young people at OOHC compared to those not in this service. Thus, the condition

of indigenous people is found to be bad in OOHC and there is a need to extend participation of
family in ceremony needs to foster sense of connection.
2. Cuthbert, D., & Quartly, M. (2010). Adoption, fostering, permanent care and beyond Re-
thinking policy and practice on out-of-home care for children in Australia. Children
Australia, 35(2), 2-5.
The main purpose of this article was to summarize about a symposium held in Department of
Human Services, Victoria that explained about the need to rethink policy and modify practice on
OOHCC for children in Australia. The significance of this article to the topic is that it announced
a framework for change which supports actions on seven fronts. These actions include
supporting children to remain with their families at home, to prepare these children to effectively
make transition to adult life, enhance the education of these children in OOHC, improve
education of children in care, develop child focussed systems and develop culturally appropriate
services for the group. The speakers in the symposium pointed to several remarkable papers that
highlighted ways to enhance the rights of children in OOHC. Some of the noteworthy suggestion
included paying consideration to the cultural identity of the child and fostering connection to
community for such children so that safety, stability and developmental needs are met. It also
pointed out to the emergence of the ‘best interest principle’ and implementation or child or
family oriented policies to better address current deficiencies for children in OOHC. Thus, the
contribution of this paper to the topic is that it suggested that critical role of appropriate policies
in advocating for well being and supporting the children in OOHC. However, the challenge was
that unless children themselves do not make application to the court, their interest mostly
depends on other parties who could provide them assistance during procedure.

3. TendersInfo News (2017). "Nation First, 20-Year Strategy To End Over-Representation
Of Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islanderchildren In Out Of Home
Care". Statements.Qld.Gov.Au, 2020,
http://statements.qld.gov.au/Statement/2017/5/30/nation-first-20year-strategy-to-end-
overrepresentation-of-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islanderchildren-in-out-of-home-care.
This news article reported about a new strategy called Our Way, launched to improve the over
representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children in the child protection system. It
was an ambitious 20 year plan by the Minister for Child Safety Shannon Fentiman which was
initiated with an investment of about $ 162.8 million. The aim of the program was to deliver
genuine and collaborative support for Aboriginal people parents to ensure that their children
grow safe in an environment surrounded by family and culture. This action was taken in response
to the need to close the gap between Aboriginal children and non indigenous children. As
breaking the cycle of disadvantage is challenging, Queensland announced their approach to
collaborate with Family Matters, which can provide the right support to address needs of
Aboriginal children and their families. In collaboration with this organization, national campaign
led by 150 Aboriginal organizations was also announced. Some of the key features of the
program in the first action plan were investment for $150 million for Aboriginal Family
Wellbeing Services, $6 million for the Empowering Families Innovation Fund and promoting
kinship for children on OOHC. Thus, through working in partnership with communities, this
news gave an overview about a flexible and culturally appropriate response to achieve
generational change. The main contribution of this article to the topic of interest is that it gives
clue regarding how community strengths and collaboration can be used to foster health
promotion for children in OOHC.