The Council of Aboriginal Services Western Australia has demanded the State Government release a mothballed child protection roadmap designed to help keep Aboriginal children out of state care, as WA’s child protection crisis continues.
The 10-Year Roadmap to Reduce the Overrepresentation of Aboriginal Children in Out-of-Home Care (2023–2033) was finalised three years ago. Yet, the State Government has not publicly released it and has not committed to implementing it.
CASWA says the Roadmap remains a real opportunity to change the trajectory for Aboriginal children overrepresented in out-of-home care.
The Department of Communities commissioned SNAICC – National Voice for our Children to develop the framework, directly responding to the Closing the Gap target of reducing the overrepresentation of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care by 45% by 2031.
CASWA Chairperson Chris Bin Kali said the Roadmap appeared to be another broken promise by the WA Government on Aboriginal child protection, despite extensive consultation with Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) in WA to devise the plan.
“Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations from across WA contributed their time and expertise to this strategy, which has been shelved while Aboriginal children continue to be overrepresented in out-of-home care at rates that demand urgent attention,” Mr Bin Kali said.
The Roadmap, as drafted, has six action areas: acting on the social determinants that bring families into contact with child protection; early support for families; strengthening the ACCO sector; cultural authority for Aboriginal families and communities; better support for children and families already in the system; and accountability and transformation of government systems.
“Each action area is evidence-based. Each responds to what Aboriginal communities told government they need,” Mr Bin Kali said. “This is solid work.
“The Roadmap sets ambitious targets, including to reduce Aboriginal children entering out-of-home care by at least 5% a year; increase early intervention funding to 30% of child protection
expenditure; achieve 60% of early support delivered by ACCOs and place 64% of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care with kin. These shifts are ambitious but we need to act.”
The Family Matters Report 2025 shows Aboriginal children in Western Australia were 17.8 times more likely to be in out-of-home care or on third-party parental responsibility orders than non-
Aboriginal children in 2023–24 — the highest rate of over-representation in the country, and almost double the national figure of 9.6.
This same report also found that WA invests only 13.4% of child protection expenditure on family support and early intervention services, compared with 27% in Victoria.
Despite these alarming findings, WA has no overarching strategy relating to child protection, still relying on an outdated 2016 child protection framework.
“When prevention services are starved of funding, Aboriginal families don’t get help until crisis point. The focus becomes removal rather than supporting them to stay together,” Mr Bin Kali said.
In 2022, the government released the Aboriginal Family Safety Strategy, publicly committing that it “will be delivered through a series of action plans over a ten-year timeframe”. No action plans have been delivered.
“This is not an isolated failure. It is part of a pattern of asking Aboriginal community organisations what they need and not delivering on the outcomes,” Mr Bin Kali said.
In November 2025, Mr Bin Kali raised this matter directly with the Minister for Child Protection, the Hon Jessica Stojkovski, requesting a government commitment to releasing and implementing the roadmap. To date, a commitment has not been forthcoming.
“The data is clear. Aboriginal children are massively overrepresented in WA’s child protection
system,” Mr Bin Kali said. “Every month this Roadmap sits idle is another month we’re not trying to prevent removals, building ACCO capacity, or strengthening Aboriginal families.
“This is not a question of the hard work of individual child protection workers, this is a question of policy leadership and funding priorities.
“We need the WA Government to step up. Release the Roadmap. Fund the implementation. Resource ACCOs to lead. That’s what the evidence says. That’s what Aboriginal communities are asking for and it’s what Aboriginal children deserve.”
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MEDIA CONTACT
Council of Aboriginal Services WA Nicole Cox – 0419 941 443 nicole@nicolecoxmedia.com.au
