Beyond structure: an investigation of agency within Aboriginal communities in the case of child removals

In the post-Apology era, Aboriginal communities and governments struggle to mitigate Aboriginal child removals. Despite concerted efforts, Aboriginal children are, at escalating rates, overrepresented at all stages of the child removal continuum. Government documents suggest implementing an integrated governance model as a solution, but no alternative to integrating Aboriginal families into the child protection system currently exists. To fill this gap, this thesis examines Aboriginal child removals from Aboriginal family perspectives, that is, the views of those with experience of the system, in order to understand the potential role of an alternative to removals. To do so, this thesis explores Australian child removals and sociologically analyses the actions and agency of Aboriginal groups interacting with statutory child protection systems. This topic is sensitive, complex, and longstanding, and thus required an Indigenist theoretical framework in order to articulate a perspective inclusive of the experiences of those most affected by child removal practices. Thus, undertaking an ethnography was critical to gaining an understanding of the perspectives of Aboriginal families on child removals, their relationships with child safety departments and how Aboriginal people raise children and support families, particularly those dealing with child protection matters. Examining different cases of child removals, this thesis analyses policy and literature sources and in-depth interviews with participants. The major finding is that the dominant and historical structures underpinning the child protection system produce and reproduce the system’s structural features and problems across time and space, limiting the part that models of Aboriginal family support could play in mitigating removals.