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Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children in out-of-home care

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2016

J.G. Barber ,
P.H. Delfabbro  and
L. Cooper
J.G. Barber
Affiliation:
School of Social Administration & Social Work, Flinders University of South Australia, GPO Box 2100 Adelaide, SA 5001
P.H. Delfabbro
Affiliation:
School of Social Administration & Social Work, Flinders University of South Australia, GPO Box 2100 Adelaide, SA 5001
L. Cooper
Affiliation:
School of Social Administration & Social Work, Flinders University of South Australia, GPO Box 2100 Adelaide, SA 5001
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Abstract

A full year’s intake of 38 Aboriginal children and 198 non-Aboriginal children referred for a new out-of-home placement in South Australia were studied as part of the first phase of a 3-year longitudinal study into the outcomes of alternative care. The baseline profile of this cohort revealed a number of significant racial and geographical differences between the children. Among the most important of these was an interaction between race and geographical location on length of time in care which indicated that Aboriginal children from metropolitan areas and non-Aboriginal children from rural areas had the longest histories of alternative care. In addition, Aboriginal children in metropolitan areas were the least likely to be referred into care for reasons of emotional abuse or neglect, no doubt because so many of them were already in alternative care at the time of the referral. Metropolitan Aboriginal children were also the unhealthiest and, together with rural non-Aborigines, the most likely to be under a court order at the time of placement. Overall, results are consistent with the proposition that metropolitan Aboriginal children and rural non-Aboriginal children are the most reliant on the formal alternative care system.

Type
Research Article
Information
Children Australia , Volume 25 , Issue 3 , 2000 , pp. 5 - 10
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2000

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