Why a Charter of Rights?

What’s the problem?

The Child Care system is broken. Recordkeeping in the system has been part of the problem – now and in future it should be part of the solution.

Recordkeeping and archiving systems are failing to meet the identity, memory and accountability needs of people who as children get caught up in child welfare and protection systems.

When those separated from family to grow up in orphanages, children’s Homes and more recent forms of statutory care (kinship, foster and residential care, often outsourced to private providers) have turned to records to makes sense of those experiences they have too often found them lacking and unable to answer their questions – or even worse records that focus on the child as the problem – reflecting on the long shadow of colonial constructs of the neglected and criminal child and their working class parents, and racist policies of the ongoing removal of Indigenous children from their families.

These systematic systems have historically failed to meet the needs of Indigenous children, young people and Care Leavers, including those from the Stolen Generations. Inadequate and poor recordkeeping has led to significant gaps in personal histories, making it difficult for individuals to trace their identity, heritage and family connections. This lack of accurate and accessible records undermines ones sense of identity, belonging and wellbeing.

Today recordkeeping for those who experience out-of-home Care continues to be based on the needs of the system rather than the child.

Why does it matter?

Recordkeeping and archiving shortcomings contribute to the vulnerabilities, disadvantage and poorer life outcomes that those who spend time in childhood out-of-home care can experience (suicide rates; mental health; shockingly high level of non-completion high school, low higher education rates etc).

• Poor quality recordkeeping impacts on the efficiency and effectiveness of decision making in child protection systems and fails to foster transparency and accountability.
• Fractured, dysfunctional, complex and inconsistent archival access frameworks are re-traumatising, and often harm rather than heal.
• Childhood records and involvement in their recordkeeping is an important part of developing a sense of self and connection with family, community and culture.
• Current recordkeeping and archival infrastructure excludes children and young people from participation in decision-making about their records and continues that exclusion throughout adulthood.
• Agency in decision-making supported by participatory recordkeeping is critical to the development of life skills and the child’s wellbeing. Disempowered, uninformed children are much more vulnerable to abuse.
• Poor quality recordkeeping impacts on the efficiency and effectiveness of decision making in child protection systems and fails to foster transparency and accountability.
• Fractured, dysfunctional, complex and inconsistent archival access frameworks are re-traumatising, and often harm rather than heal.
• And worst of all there is a history of records being weaponised against children and their adult selves (records being used as evidence of Care leaver mothers being unfit to parent because of the impact of their time in Care)

For Indigenous communities maintaining a strong connection to cultural heritage and identity is crucial. The failure of recordkeeping systems to preserve and provide access to accurate information exacerbates the ongoing trauma experienced by the Stolen Generations, Indigenous children and young people in Care. It also hinders efforts to hold the system accountable for past and present injustices. Improving these systems is essential to support the identity, memory and accountability needs of Stolen Generations, Indigenous children, young people and Care Leavers, ensuring they can reclaim their histories, identity and heal from the impacts of systemic failures.

Currently, lifelong rights and mandatory protocols in recordkeeping for Indigenous children in Out-of-Home Care and Care leavers do not exist. In building upon previous research on A Charter of Rights in Childhood Recordkeeping, current research explores questions regarding how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander records are used and stored. This includes the creation of new records of children and young people currently in Out-of-Home Care, such as Cultural Plans. A Cultural Plan is part of a holistic approach to planning for vulnerable children and young people in Out-of-Home Care. Cultural Plans for Aboriginal children in Out-of-Home Care aim to maintain and strengthen their Aboriginal identity and encourage their connection to their Aboriginal culture and community.

Recordkeeping has been used and weaponised as part of colonialism. This research highlights how recordkeeping has been used as a vital tool in administrative violence that aided the stealing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in Australia and the consequences of that today. The ongoing effects of colonisation continue to marginalise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This includes the disempowerment and the inability to exercise human rights, civil rights, and privileges due to governmental and institutional recordkeeping policies and practices.