Question

7. What is an issue, policy or event that Indigenous organisation could promote within their field placement and why is it important for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people?

Answer 1

Planning and delivering services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, families, and communities can be a complex task for practitioners and policy-makers. Social problems are often deeply entrenched, and need to be approached with consideration of historical, social, community, family and individual factors. Furthermore, as Australian Indigenous cultures are not homogenous, Indigenous communities can differ considerably. Indigenous communities often have characteristics specific to geographic location, with significant variation evident across urban, rural, and remote communities

Methods that child and family services can use to support Indigenous families and communities include:

• working with (rather than working "on") Indigenous communities;
• ensuring your service is culturally competent;
• focusing on attracting and retaining the right staff;
• cultivating networks and relationships; and
• adopting an action research approach.

Many Indigenous families and communities in contemporary Australia face immense challenges. Their strength and resilience is compromised by multiple complex problems, including historical and ongoing dispossession, marginalisation, and racism, as well as the legacy of past policies of forced removal and cultural assimilation (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 1997). These issues contribute to the high levels of poverty, unemployment, violence, and substance abuse seen in many Indigenous communities. They also impact negatively on Indigenous children, who demonstrate poor health, educational, and social outcomes when compared to non-Indigenous children (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare [AIHW], 2009).

Additionally, there is a number of factors that inhibit the successful delivery of services to Indigenous families and communities. A lack of appropriate infrastructure can hinder the logistics of service delivery. Demanding workloads and low remuneration make staff burnout a common issue. Difficult social environments­ - with low levels of trust, participation, social control, and efficacy, and high levels of anxiety, disempowerment, disorganisation, and mobility - provide the context for much service delivery. Finally, evidence regarding effective responses to problems in Indigenous communities is limited

Despite the complexity of these issues, there are services that are working effectively to reduce Indigenous disadvantage in Australia (Flaxman, Muir, & Oprea, 2009; Scougall, 2008). The lessons learnt from these services about what works are critical to ensuring improved outcomes for Indigenous children, families and communities. The impetus to deliver improved outcomes for Indigenous children, families and communities is strengthened by the Council of Australian Governments' (COAG) Indigenous reform agenda (2010), referred to as "Closing the Gap". This reform agenda aims to "close the gap" on Indigenous disadvantage across 6 key areas - life expectency, child mortality, access to early childhood education, literacy and numeracy, education attainment, and economic partcipation (COAG, 2010).

This Practice Sheet summarises those lessons and is likely to be of most use to organisations, services, agencies and program/project managers who are planning or delivering Indigenous-specific services, or who are operating in areas where there are large numbers of Indigenous service users.

For more information about research evidence on what works to close the gap on Indigenous disadvantage, visit the Closing the Gap clearinghouse

Practice considerations

Practice considerations are general principles based upon lessons from research and practice designed to provide additional guidance to service providers about specific issues relating to children and families, especially as they relate to disadvantaged Australian communities. The following practice considerations are elaborated upon using case studies.

Work with Indigenous communities

In the past, some service providers have been criticised for not involving the community in service delivery. Services for Indigenous Australians are most effective when the community is involved in both their planning and implementation stages. When Indigenous Elders, community members, and other local service providers are engaged in a consultative process, the most important needs of the community can be distinguished and the most appropriate methods of implementation can be identified.

Working with Indigenous communities can be achieved when service providers adopt the following principles:

• Involve community members. This includes involvement in both planning and implementation of the service.
• Identify pressing needs. It is important to communicate with community members in order to identify their most pressing needs. Experience suggests that it is often best to start with small and achievable objectives, rather than trying to take on too much too early. Early successes often have a "ripple" effect, inspiring community confidence and motivating service staff.
• Utilise existing networks, services, and resources. Some Indigenous projects have very successfully "piggybacked" services on the back of existing activities, social events, and structures.
• Balance the talking with the doing. In the past, too much community consultation and a subsequent failure to follow through with action has, understandably, led to cynicism among some Indigenous communities. It is important to balance consultation with implementation. This can be effectively achieved if an action research approach is adopted (see the "Adopt an action research approach" section in this paper).

Culturally competent practices and strategies

• Conduct services "in language" (the first language of local people) or, failing this, have translators or people who can present information in plain, accessible English. It is also important to ensure that any metaphors or examples used take account of Indigenous world views and experiences.
• Involve cultural artefacts in services and everyday activities (e.g., traditional Indigenous tools, foods, and artwork).
• Consult and involve family, extended kin networks, and community members in service delivery.
• Invite Indigenous Elders to participate in the program delivery.

Focus on attracting and retaining the right staff

What makes it work is people. The staff have expectations of themselves and of colleagues. They're self-managing. The quality assurance [of the program] comes from the staff.

Competent and capable staff members are key to the success of any social service delivery. This is especially true for Indigenous-specific services, where success is often largely dependent on cultural competence and the development of trusting relationships with the community. A strong team in an Indigenous-specific service will have staff who have the following characteristics:

• Strong relationships with Indigenous program participants. This will often be achieved by employing local people as part of a team, who bring with them a deep understanding of cultural issues and a respect for local protocols.
• Personal qualities necessary to work cross-culturally. The ability to carry out "cultural translation" is particularly important. It is necessary that staff members are able to communicate effectively with and between both external stakeholders and program participants.
• Demonstrated skills to do the job. Many projects require people with specific qualifications or expertise in areas such as childhood development, counselling, capacity building, and leadership development.