The grandmothers want the children to come home.

Too many Aboriginal children are being removed from families and the grandmothers want to share this story. They want governments to instead invest in early intervention, prevention and family restoration services. They want the children to come home.

Can you help five Aboriginal grandmothers from Gunnedah, Coonabarabran and Moree NSW get to Newcastle?

The grandmothers want to tell their stories at a symposium on ‘Aboriginal children, culture and the law’ being held in Newcastle on 5 August 2016. 

They want their voices heard.

But they need the funds to get to Newcastle.

Can you help?

Aboriginal kids make up over one third of all kids in out-of-home care in NSW. 

That’s around 6,000 Aboriginal babies and children in out-of-home care, even though they make up around just 2.5% of the general population.

Just last year, Aboriginal children and young people made up 50 per cent of all kids removed from their families.

The Aboriginal grandmothers are part of a national group called Grandmothers Against Removal (GMAR). The group is a grassroots collective of Aboriginal grandmothers, many of whom care for their grandchildren and other children in their communities. 

They want to see change to the child protection systems in each State and Territory. 

They want to bring governments to account to reduce the number of Aboriginal children being taken from their families. 

And they want properly resourced, early intervention, prevention and family restoration services that are of help to Aboriginal parents and families to keep children safe, within their own families and communities.

Aboriginal grandmothers want the children to be safe at home.

The NSW collective of Aboriginal grandmothers is made up of a number of grandmothers living in towns across NSW.

They’re talking to us at Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) about attending the symposium we’re holding on Aboriginal children, culture and the law on 5 August 2016.

The symposium is being put on by our Care and Protection Legal Practice and will include Judges, magistrates, Department of Family and Community Service representatives (FaCS), children’s care and protection lawyers and advocates, independent child representatives and out-of–home care agency workers.

We want to ensure the Grandmothers have the funds needed to get to the symposium.

Can you help?

The grandmothers live in rural and remote towns across NSW. We need to raise funds to get them to Newcastle to have their voices heard at the symposium.

We’ll be talking about more PREVENTION programs in place to help families keep their children safe and at home, more INTERVENTION programs to help children and families, and more FAMILY RESTORATIONS so that kids can one day go home again.

They’ll travel by bus and train to reach the symposium.

All Aboriginal organisations are under the pump at the moment in terms of funding, so we need help to bring them here.

Can you help bring the Aboriginal grandmothers to Newcastle?

Judges, Magistrates, FaCS (DoCS), and social services workers will be at the symposium, as will children’s care and protection lawyers and advocates, foster carers and out-of–home care agencies. And government will be there too.

The Aboriginal grandmothers are an essential voice in the debate concerning necessary changes to the child protection system to reduce the number of Aboriginal children taken away and increase the number of children coming home.

Please help us get the grandmothers to Newcastle.

Please help fund Aboriginal grandmothers to Newcastle.

Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) is again facing funding cuts. Nonetheless, we continue to provide frontline services to Aboriginal parents and families.

We hope the 'Aboriginal children, culture and the law' symposium will demonstrate to government and service providers that the current rate of Aboriginal child removal in NSW, the highest rate in the country, is not sustainable, not economically viable, not culturally appropriate, and not best practice.

About Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT)

Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) is an Aboriginal controlled community organsation providing frontline criminal, family and children's care and protection legal services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men, women and children in NSW and ACT. We operate Australia's only Custody Notification Service (CNS) which has prevented Aboriginal deaths in police cell custody since it began in NSW and ACT. We auspice Just Reinvest NSW and are backing one of the first justice reinvestment trials occurring in Australia, in Bourke NSW. 

The ALS Care and Protection legal practice assists Aboriginal men and women, parents, grandparents, uncles, aunties, and children with child protection issues. Child protection issues are when a government department is involved and is talking to a parent or their family.ALS are and Protection lawyers give professional expert legal and non-legal assistance. Our field officers also provide non-legal assistance.

 Our lawyers fight to have all Aboriginal children who are taken from their families placed with family or within their community, doing their best to adhere to the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle. We challenge agencies working with Aboriginal families to maintain children’s connection to their families and their culture.

 The Care and Protection law practice helps individuals understand what the Child Protection Agencies are saying and why a particular outcome has occurred. ALS Care and Protection lawyers also help families to understand the court process and what the Children’s Court is saying. They help people decide whether they can fight a matter or not. They help people create a plan for now, or into the future.

 ALS Care and Protection lawyers are available by phone, email or at select ALS offices. We have Lawyers and Field Officers in a number of locations across NSW and ACT.

Visit our website  |  Follow us on Facebook  |  Join us on Twitter  |  Watch our short films on YouTube

Newcastle is about 5 - 8 hours away from where most of the grandmothers live. 

The 'Aboriginal Children, Culture and the Law' symposium is on Friday 5 August 2016 from 9 - 5pm.

So the grandmothers will leave early on Thursday 4 August and they will arrive back home late Saturday afternoon on 6 August 2016. They will stay two nights in Newcastle.

The Grandmothers are coming from Coonabarabran (x1), Moree (x2) and Gunnedah (x2), NSW.

Can you help cover the costs?

To bring five grandmothers to Newcastle, the estimated cost will be $4,407.22

Accommodation

• Three nights accommodation for 5 adults at $160.00 per person = $2,400.00

Travel 

• From Coonabarabran, the estimated costs for 1 grandmother travelling by car to Gunnedah, and then by train from Gunnedah to Broadmeadow, and then returning all the way home again to Coonabarabran = $100.00 (estimated petrol costs) +  $143.22 (train costs)
• From Moree, the estimated costs for 2 grandmothers travelling by train to Broadmeadow, and then return to Moree = $444.00
• From Gunnedah, the estimated costs for 2 grandmothers travelling by train to Broadmeadow, and then return to Gunnedah = $270.00. 

Meals 

• Breakfast for five grandmothers from Friday - Sunday at $15.00 per person for three days = $225.00
• Lunch for five grandmothers from Thursday - Sunday at $25.00 per person = $375.00
• Dinner for five grandmothers from Thursday - Saturday at $30.00 per person = $450.00

Overall total $4,407.22

Can you help?

The number of grandmothers we can bring will rely on how much we can raise during this crowd-funding campaign.

We aim to bring five grandmothers to Newcastle. 

We will commit any funds raised over our target to bringing more grandmothers to Newcastle.

Two photos on this page were gratefully sourced from http://www.tuffguts.com/