An Aboriginal leader who works to keep kids from being taken from their community and placed into nonindigenous care is appealing to the Northern Territory government to dump a planned change to child protection laws. Currently, all states and territories have laws requiring indigenous children to be put into indigenous child protection placements where possible. The territory government is planning to water down that requirement.
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00:00Maintaining culture is vital to Ornamblant woman Najeste Dilipuma Potsana.
00:12Every day we do things according to Yolngu custom, Yolngu law.
00:19So she works with other Aboriginal leaders to help the NT government find child protection
00:24places for Indigenous kids with Indigenous families.
00:29To keep Yolngu children with Yolngu families on Yolngu land, connected to their language,
00:37their culture.
00:39She's concerned leaked documents show the territory government plans to enable courts
00:44to stop adhering to the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle, under which Indigenous kids taken
00:51into care must go to Indigenous placements where possible.
00:56Children that were Yolngu and placed in out-of-home care and not in Yolngu families, when they
01:04became adults, they turned to drugs, alcohol and crime.
01:13Independent MP Yinya Gula shares the concern.
01:17It's just too many, too many children away from home.
01:22That's our history being taken away.
01:25It's going to be wiped out.
01:26The government is adamant the law change is needed because it says in some cases requiring
01:32Aboriginal children to be placed with Aboriginal families could cause harm.
01:37Where potentially applying those principles in an absolute, explicit way, there is a risk
01:45that harm could be caused to the child or an adult attached to the child.
01:49Aboriginal leaders aren't reassured.
01:52Stop creating something that doesn't work.
01:55It just doesn't work.
01:56They want more consultation before the change is introduced to Parliament.