Kylie’s right to maintain her connection to her Aboriginal community and culture

Kylie is a young Aboriginal woman from regional Victoria living in out-of-home residential care, provided over time by three different Community Service Organisations engaged by Child Protection. Kylie’s mother contacted us because she was worried about her daughter’s care.

When we checked Kylie’s records in 2018, we noticed she hadn’t been given a plan to help her maintain her connection to her community and culture, despite the law requiring she have one within sixteen weeks of being in out-of-home care. Having a plan would have promoted Kylie’s cultural rights and her best interests.

We investigated and found that proper cultural planning did not occur during Kylie’s first or second residential care placements.

It wasn’t until her third placement with the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA) that Kylie had a plan developed to support her connection to culture and community and engage in cultural healing.

One of the care providers agreed to strengthen ties with VACCA to improve cultural planning processes.