Kalwun’s Empowered and Connected Families Program champions the safe care and connection of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children with their families, kin, communities, and culture.
The Empowered and Connected Families (ECF) program is a culturally responsive, community-led initiative designed to strengthen Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander families by ensuring that decisions about our children, young people and families are made by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Community-Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) not external government agencies.
Through delegated authority, the ECF program shifts decision-making power from Child Safety to community-led organisations with deep cultural knowledge, ensuring that children remain connected to family, community, and culture whenever possible.
The ECF team works directly with families to make recommendations for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children who are currently involved with or at risk of involvement with Child Safety. Based on these recommendations, the Kalwun CEO makes decisions about:
- Connection – when, where and how often our kids spend time with family, culture and community.
- Reunification – when and how we bring our kids home to parents or another family member, so they will be safe, supported and connected.
- Family Plans – approving family plans (also known as case planning).
This means that key care, protection, and connection decisions for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children and young people are no longer solely made by Child Safety. Instead, these decisions are led by our CEO, supported by a team of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander practitioners with child protection expertise.
By keeping decision-making within community, we ensure that our jarjum’s grow up safe, supported, and connected to their identity, family, and culture.
With mob, by mob, for mob!
Our Role
Our team works alongside children, young people and their families to:
- Listen to their story and understand their journey, ensuring their voices are heard.
- Be guided by the child and family’s wishes and goals to shape the best possible outcomes. Empowering voice and choice.
- Identify key family and community members who play a meaningful role in the child and/or young person’s life. Who is important to them.
- Connect families with culturally appropriate support services to strengthen and reconnect or reunite them.
- Ensure our children grow up strong, deeply connected to their family, community, and culture.
- Find opportunities to bring our children home, working towards keeping them out of the child protection system, and supporting their safe return to family and community where possible.
Decision-Making within the ECF program is guided by wise practice, ensuring that all decisions are made in a way that is culturally safe, community-led, and grounded in our ways of knowing, being and doing.
Decisions are:
- Made by the Kalwun CEO, rather than Child Safety, ensuring that cultural authority remains within community.
- Centred on the safety and wellbeing, and cultural identity of the child or young person.
- Informed by the lived experiences of the child, young person, family, and community, ensuring that cultural ways of caring for children are recognised and upheld.
- Led by families, respecting the principles of self-determination and the right of our people to make decisions in the best interest of their child/children.
- Culturally grounded, with guidance from Elders, kin, and community, acknowledging the strength of intergenerational trauma while focusing on healing and connection.
- Transparent and collaborative, ensuring that families are active participants in decision making and that all decisions are made with openness, honesty, and respect. Empowering voice and choice.
- Guided by cultural protocols and community wisdom, upholding the knowledge that our people have always had about raising strong, connected children.
- Driven by community for community, ensuring that decisions are made with mob, by mob, for mob.
Decisions that are not related to connection, reunification and/or family plans will still be made by Child Safety, in collaboration, with the ECF team at this point in time.
Accessing the service
Referrals to Kalwun’s Empowered and Connected Families Program can be made if:
- The child and family identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.
- ECF works with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander families with children unborn to 18 years of age.
- Engaged with a Child Safety Service Centre.
- The referral has come from the child or family involved, or a Child Safety Officer.
- Your consent must be received before we start working together.
To find out more about how our team can help, call (07) 5520 8600 or complete the form below.
