Mob says “keep kids with family” and the system replies “best we can do is a brochure”

SYDNEY, 16 Feb – Fresh concern about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child removals has sparked urgent calls for change, with authorities moving quickly to address the issue by commissioning an updated framework to define what “urgent” means.

The new approach will focus on “early intervention”, which insiders confirmed means intervening early in the budget cycle to ensure funding is safely stored in a future commitment, protected from being accidentally spent on families.

A cross-agency working group will also develop a “Culturally Responsive Removal Reduction Roadmap”, featuring a traffic-light system that turns amber when a family needs help, then immediately escalates to red if the family asks what the timeline is.

Community members again pointed to practical supports – housing, healing, kinship care resources, access to legal help, and local services that families actually trust. The system, in a show of flexibility, offered a new hotline and an online form that times out after eight minutes “for wellbeing reasons”.

“An agency spokesperson said, ‘We are committed to keeping children connected to culture, which is why we have printed culture in A4 and attached it to the case file.’”

A celebratory media release confirmed the initiative’s first milestone was achieved: the establishment of a committee to reduce the number of committees.