The 26th May 2016 marks the 19th anniversary of the Bringing Them Home report. 19 years on, the rates of Aboriginal child removal has sky-rocketed. More and more Aboriginal children are being taken away – in fact the numbers now reach about 15,000 nationally. In Queensland, the majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids – around 62 percent – are known to ‘child protection’. The impact of child protection in all states and territories leave a legacy of trauma that spans the generations.
This morning, Aunty Karen Fusi, Aunty Cephia Williams, Aunty Karen Robert and Debbie Jones joined Amy McQuire to discuss the impact child protection has had on their families, and the steps that First Nations grandmothers across the country are taking to fight back. The Grandmothers Against Removals groups are going strong, and there is a new group – Sovereign Women United – which is aiming to provide support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, not just in relation to child protection, but also with other matters – like family violence, housing, justice, which all feeds into this out-of-home care crisis.