Why we're changing the way we work

To understand why our work with Aboriginal communities is so crucial, it's important to look at the role governments have played in shaping the inequities Aboriginal communities face today.

Policies and practices of previous Governments have led to dispossession, exclusion and harm. As a result, Aboriginal people have experienced a profound disruption to their cultures, communities and connection to Country.

Some of the structures that contributed to past harms still exist in different forms today. Their impacts have been passed through generations, contributing to ongoing intergenerational trauma and creating systems that have not always supported Aboriginal people to heal or thrive.

We acknowledge these injustices, including through DCJ’s formal apology to members of the Stolen Generations. The department has also committed, through the NSW Closing the Gap Partnership Agreement, to work in genuine partnership with Aboriginal communities to change how we do business. We are taking important steps to addressing ongoing structural inequality and to improve outcomes for Aboriginal people.

The impacts of colonisation

When British people colonised these lands in the late 1700s, they brought structures that enforced British ways of living and thinking. The structures were not designed for Aboriginal people but were still imposed on their communities and lands.

The colonisers introduced laws that were racist and allowed exclusion and violence against Aboriginal people. These laws stopped Aboriginal people from being allowed to practice their own culture or make decisions about themselves and their community. They led to many Aboriginal people being placed in custody, separated from their community and country, abused or murdered.

From the 1890s until the 1970s, predecessor agencies to DCJ also forcibly removed Aboriginal children from their family, kin and community. These children who were removed are today known as the ‘Stolen Generations’.

At the same time, Aboriginal people didn’t have access to the government services and supports that non-Aboriginal people had.

Many of the effects of this systemic inequity persist. Aboriginal people are now overrepresented in DCJ’s out-of-home care and justice systems for many reasons, including the combined impacts of past government policies, ongoing systemic racism, intergenerational trauma, and barriers to accessing culturally safe support.

In the face of these challenges, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have shown extraordinary resilience, maintaining strong connections to Country, culture, and community — all of which remain central to identity, wellbeing and strength.