Aboriginal Cultural Practice Framework: Standards and aspirations for practice

Download print version:

Aboriginal Cultural Practice Framework (PDF 15.0 MB)

On this page:

Acknowledgement
Statement of Inclusion
A word from the consultants
A note from the artist
A message from Safer Family Services Aboriginal Staff
Foreword
Purpose
Structure
Using the Framework
Underlying practice principles
Practice capabilities and standards
Glossary
References

Acknowledgement

We in Safer Family Services acknowledge and respect Aboriginal people as the first people of this country and recognise the traditional custodians of the lands in South Australia, the lands on which we practice.

We acknowledge that the cultural, spiritual, social, economic and parenting practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people come from traditional lands, waters and skies, and that the cultural and heritage beliefs, languages and lore are still living and of great importance today.

We acknowledge elders past, present and those emerging, which of course is our children. We further acknowledge Aboriginal staff, families and community working to keep children safe in the protective strengths of culture, with a strong sense of self and identity.

We are committed to voice and truth telling, ensuring that the needs and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are incorporated in the design, development, monitoring and evaluation of deliverable actions.

Statement of Inclusion

Safer Family Services (SFS) acknowledges and respects the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child and upholds children’s rights by placing them at the centre of our work. At all times in the delivery of services, SFS will seek to advocate for a just and inclusive society that values and respects children’s identity and voice, within the context of their family, culture, and community.

SFS staff and leaders create, model and promote a workplace culture where differences, lived experience, culture, gender identities, sexualities, faiths, ethnicities and abilities are respected and valued, and their voices elevated. We recognise the contributions these communities make and are committed to working alongside them in partnership

SFS will address individual and systemic issues by tackling barriers or highlighting service gaps that prevent children from living safely with their families.

Note: The term Aboriginal is used throughout this framework and is respectfully inclusive of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

A word from the consultants

When Aboriginal people are invited to lead this kind of work, developing cultural practice guidance, it is because there is an understanding that it is required to genuinely bring the strength and understanding of our culture into a social service system.

It is also known that we have a conscious and intentional bias. That is, an absolute belief in our people, a deep understanding of our peoples’ hurts and hopes, and the desire to change and challenge systems or practices that get in the way of our rights, hopes and freedom. Like many of us, we walk in two worlds, carrying the responsibility to our community and navigating the systems we have now to ensure they better serve our people.

This is not easy and is a constant tension. We struggle to ensure that we are providing meaningful advice that builds on current clinical practice and the work of social service systems while keeping awake to colonising practices and approaches, that our people are seen clearly, strongly and loudly in this work.

We write this as we invite you to be on this struggle with us in your day-to-day practice and as you implement this framework. It is the struggle that will contribute to positive change for our peoples.

Thank you

This Framework was developed in consultation with Department of Human Services (DHS) staff and NGOs, Aboriginal people and allies through online and face to face workshops.

DS Consultancy and Two Worlds Consultancy would like to express our deepest thanks to all who contributed to its development. We felt very privileged to do this work and to be part of listening to the practice wisdom from all staff involved and those that shared their lived experience with us. We also wanted to give particular thanks to the working group that guided this project and the support we received from our dear colleague and sister Sasha Houthuysen.

We hope that our translation of your wisdom into this framework is useful, helpful, and hopeful.

Dana Shen (DS Consultancy) and Shirley Young (Two Worlds Consultancy)

A note from the artist

Yamatji/Noongar woman, Sasha Houthuysen/Hill

The Child and Family Support System (CFSS) artwork is a visual representation of the ‘Aboriginal Cultural Lenses of Practice.’ The Aboriginal Cultural Practice Framework reflects artwork correlating to the cultural lens journey, allies walking alongside Aboriginal staff, families and communities, and meeting and learning places supporting Aboriginal best practice.

The artwork created in the ‘Aboriginal Cultural Lenses of Practice’ Aboriginal led workshop attended by SFS Aboriginal staff and allies to give voice to Aboriginal ways of knowing, being and doing and guidance in the supporting of a culturally safe workforce. The artwork is the representation of this voice and the strength of culture.

Using and engaging with these visuals demonstrates Safer Family Services’ commitment to working in culturally responsive and safe ways, embracing a healing approach and ensuring that children and families are front and centre of our work.

What we value

The symbol for what we value is the concentric circle or meeting place with people surrounding it. This is reflective of the deep listening to Aboriginal voices from all levels of the kinship system. This symbol represents Aboriginality as a protective factor.

What we want: now and into the future

The arrows reflect the risk and safety space we work in. The strength of this symbol is the understanding that high risk and safety concerns are present. However, they fall into the concentric circle representing family. This signifies that we aim to support families and communities to keep children safe and well at home.

Cultural strengths and responsibilities

The concentric circles and the journey lines frames the image, this represents the journey that everybody takes which must be acknowledged and accepted, and especially the journey we wish allies to be on. This symbol also represents the cultural lens that needs to encompass our work with Aboriginal families.

A culturally capable workforce

The footsteps as a symbol for a culturally capable workforce is deeply rooted in cultural respect and the ability to walk the path together and build a relationship. This also speaks to the understanding that allies will actively walk this path committing to confront racist practices, structural racism and inequalities.

Cultural knowledge

Bright sparks illustrate the strength and resilience of Aboriginal peoples and especially our Aboriginal workforce. This strength and resilience come from a continual spark of motivation to work for and with our community to incorporate Aboriginal ways of doing, being and knowing into our practice.

The role of Allies

The symbol for the role of allies is the journey line coming into a meeting place that is surrounded by Aboriginal people. It shows the various journeys people go on in their allyship and the importance of cultural lens application, meaningful consultation, and genuine partnership.

Symbols Map

The Aboriginal Cultural Practice Framework utilises elements of the Aboriginal Cultural Lenses of Practice visuals but also holds a standalone symbol reflective of the Practice Principles set out in the Framework. The symbol originated from the workshops undertaken for this Framework throughout the consultation process. It speaks to the need to intertwine cultural and clinical practice as there is strength and safety in the centrality of culture and identity when working with the whole person.

When cultural and clinical practice align, strength and safety occur in the wholeness of family, community, identity and culture.

The Aboriginal Cultural Practice Framework symbol represents a central meeting place with people holding the space around it. It reflects the strength and protective nature of both a family and kinship network and a care team. The horizontal and movement lines represent clinical and cultural practice. It reinforces the belief that you cannot have one without the other and that they are not opposing ideologies.

Artwork created by Yamatji/Noongar woman, Sasha Houthuysen/Hill

A message from Safer Family Services Aboriginal Staff

We are pleased to present the Aboriginal Cultural Practice Framework, another step forward in the development of and accountability for culturally safe and responsive practice within Safer Family Services (SFS).

This Framework marks SFS’s commitment to reform. It guides best practice for practitioners working together with children and families to ensure that children are safe and well at home, in family, community and culture.

Aboriginal practice is based around the protective strengths and safety of culture, kinship, relationships built and valued with clinical practice. The Aboriginal Cultural Practice Framework mirrors these ways of knowing, being and doing, and reflect what we, as Aboriginal community, know to be evidence informed best practice.

It is intended that the Underlying Practice Principles, Practice Capabilities and Standards in the framework are used for guiding best practice that is ethical, family-led, partnership driven and healing, and which ensures self-determination at its core.

May the framework support you to start or continue your cultural learning journey, acknowledging that we are all learning. Learning never stops and is a continual process of reflection, understanding and active implementation. May you engage in the framework, principles and practice standards, and seek accountability to implement culturally safe and responsive ways of working within your practice.

We wish to recognise the individuals, staff and community who have contributed to the development of the Aboriginal Cultural Practice Framework, and who will be supporting the implementation, accountability and outcomes across Safer Family Services.

Foreword

Safer Family Services (SFS) is committed to support all staff, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal who work with Aboriginal children, families and community, to develop their capabilities, build knowledge and implement skills to undertake culturally responsive and safe practices.

The Aboriginal Cultural Practice Framework (the Framework) articulates Aboriginal ways of ‘knowing, being and doing.’ It is designed to consolidate this knowledge and skill base in an organisational context and in doing this, acting as a resource and best practice guide.

The Framework has been designed with a focus on family preservation.

It seeks to bring together cultural and clinical practice. It outlines six Underlying Practice Principles supported by four Practice Capabilities and Standards.

When cultural and clinical practice align, strength and safety occur in the wholeness of family, community, identity, and culture.

Purpose

The purpose of the Framework is to help Safer Family Services to:

provide culturally safe and responsive practice with Aboriginal families with the aim of keeping children safe and well at home
provide culturally safe and responsive workplaces for Aboriginal staff
provide clarity in ongoing learning expectations for staff and processes to support continuous quality improvement.

The Framework is the key point of reference to guide the development and review of structures, processes and other policy documents supporting culturally safe and responsive practice.

While standards are the basic guidelines for practice, this Framework asks practitioners to reach for something greater in their practice and to aspire for something more: to continually challenge themselves, continually challenge the system and take active steps to support Aboriginal children, families, and communities in true self determination, ensuring families are thriving, hopeful and fulfilling dreams.

Structure

The Framework is structured as follows:

Underlying practice principles

The broad views and perspectives that inform each capability and standard.

Capabilities

The overarching skills knowledge and mindset needed to carry out a practice competently.

Standards

The basic expectations about what and how we practice, both as individuals and as an organisation. For each standard, there are:

Key expectations and how they are defined in practice
Prompts for evidencing practice with Aboriginal children and families and how it links with legislation, policies, and procedures.
Reflective prompts for individuals and/or teams and at organisational level.

Using the Framework

We invite other organisations to use this Framework guided by the cultural authority within their organisations.

While it has been written for Safer Families Services, the framework can be used to:

help understand and apply the capabilities that sit behind a practice
guide stages of work including cultural lens application, assessments and case planning
support reflective practice, individual and group supervision, learnings and development
inform the length and breadth of the client journey with SFS practice including pathways, assessment, risk and safety tools, snapshot tools, case plans, cultural consultation, home visits, care team meetings, review meetings and escalations.

Underlying practice principles

1. A whole and hopeful approach to working with Aboriginal families

There are many challenging issues facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, families, and communities as a direct result of colonisation and subsequent discriminatory policies and interventions that hold significant harmful legacies today.

Yet Aboriginal people collectively are strong and resilient, the descendants of the oldest and continuous living culture in the world. This birthright brings with it a deep connection to land and place, deep understanding of kinship systems, responsibility, and cultural accountability.

While the journeys of individual Aboriginal people can be very different, this birthright provides access to the strengths and possibilities of being Aboriginal in this country. It includes:

the diversity of Aboriginal language groups
unique parenting practices and ways of being family in a kinship system
the strengths and protection that culture offers
growing thriving children who live empowered lives
the possibility of all Aboriginal people finding their way home to culture in whatever way this means to them

The role of the practitioner is holding in balance the risks and worries faced by children and families with all these possibilities and unconditional, positive regard for the strengths and protective factors of connections to identity, culture, and community.

2. Understanding intergenerational trauma and intergenerational strength, then and now

Understanding the hurts faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, families and communities and the way to healing means having an intimate knowledge of intergenerational trauma. This is a trauma that is collectively experienced by Aboriginal peoples due to the catastrophic impact of colonisation and subsequent policies and is passed down from generation to generation. It can look very different depending on the individual, family, and community. It is thus important to explore and determine that services are not further perpetuating intergenerational or complex trauma and instead can actively contribute and support the protective factors that lead to intergenerational strength and healing.

3. Holding clinical and cultural practice in balance

We often see cultural practice and clinical practice as separate and competing practices. However clinical practice and Aboriginal cultural practice need to be overlapping, mutually reinforcing and complementary practices. For this to occur requires a shared approach to gathering information and shared understandings of how Aboriginal ways of knowing, being and doing, and bio-psychosocial assessments can collectively form a holistic social and emotional wellbeing assessment of the whole of person.

This may include;

content on cultural connections, safety, environment, health, spirituality, mental health
connection to family and kinship
connection to land waters and skies
Aboriginal parenting practices and experiences of being parented and how they parent
stories of connection to ancestors
systemic factors and historical experiences of past events, policies, and practices
community support and strengths in culture

Assessments that support and record this shared information will provide holistic perspectives of the family and weave a rich picture of culture and clinical aspects that will inform culturally responsive ways of working with families. This requires each team member’s knowledge base to be equally valued in the social and emotional wellbeing assessment. Time spent together as a team to formulate the assessment is considered best practice that will have a positive impact on the specific needs of a family.

4. Supporting and growing Aboriginal knowing, being and doing

Aboriginal practitioners bring the unique perspective of living and working across two worlds: the world of Aboriginal culture, family and community and the world of social service systems and practice. This sits within a context where Aboriginal people are disproportionately overrepresented across human and social services. It carries a complex set of responsibilities that impact all parts of our lives:

the responsibility to serve Aboriginal people and community
the responsibility to heal ourselves and our families and communities
the responsibility to challenge systems that build barriers to Aboriginal self-determination and healing
the responsibility to keep hope alive, belief in each other alive and continually centring the strength of culture

This is meaningful and difficult work that needs to be nurtured and supported. It includes growing and nurturing the Aboriginal workforce through the creation of cultural safety for staff, ensuring they have a meaningful voice, and leadership and decision-making structures that are given appropriate respect, time, and adherence.

5. Supporting and growing Allyship

Courageous and committed allies are needed to fundamentally improve outcomes for Aboriginal children and families. This is a call to action.

Being a true and active ally to Aboriginal people is not an easy role. As a non-Aboriginal person this means working within systems that are inherently racist and colonising and seeing clearly what they are and how they outwork in systems. It also means recognising the history and wisdom of Aboriginal peoples, giving status to their diverse voices and knowledges, and supporting self-determination as you deeply listen, reflect and work to support the vision of Aboriginal peoples (Co-Design Findings and Next Steps, DHS, 2019).

Allies are required to undertake a commitment to a lifelong learning journey, to become conscious of colonising practices, identifying, and challenging systemic concerns that continue to impact negatively on Aboriginal people accessing services.

Aboriginal communities, families and children need practitioners to know themselves, their biases and assumptions and their own experiences of trauma (Trauma Responsive System Framework, DHS, 2021), to see clearly, hear clearly, think clearly, feel clearly and understand what they bring to the work, and to work for justice.

You are invited to travel the lifelong journey of unlearning, learning, understanding, challenging injustices and to build meaningful relationships to walk alongside and elevate Aboriginal voices.

This is known as Allyship Accountability and it is central to implementing the Aboriginal Cultural Lenses of Practice across SFS services.

6. Understanding the self within the system

Human service systems are a complex interaction of multiple parts that include the people that participate and interact within a system, legislation, policy, and procedure that guide the system and the overarching goals of a system.

The practitioner is also part of this system. Each practitioner is unique and brings a unique set of life experiences, identities, conscious and unconscious biases, privilege, and power (or lack of) in different contexts. It is these differences that bring a wealth of knowledge and richness to the human service system – it is a strength.

With an awareness of how the human service system can operate and what we can bring to it, we can strive to bring the best of ourselves to the work and respond in the best way possible within this complex system.

Practice capabilities and standards

There are four sections.

Capability 1: Working holistically with children, family, community, and culture

Working with Aboriginal people means working with the whole of a person and the whole of a person within their own identity, community, and kinship system. The ‘whole person’ means all aspects of the social and emotional wellbeing of an individual, their worries, hopes and dreams. The whole of their community and kinship system means the child, the family, the community, and their culture. This also means considering stories of the past, present and future, and supporting Aboriginal people as you challenge the systems that may hinder their thriving and self-determination.

Standards for Capability 1

There are three standards.

1.1 Enacting Aboriginal child and family rights

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, states that indigenous peoples of the world have the right to survival, dignity, and wellbeing. It also elaborates on existing human rights standards and fundamental freedoms as they apply to indigenous peoples.

Children have civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, regardless of their race, religion or abilities (The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Save the Children).

Enacting Aboriginal child and family rights means deeply understanding these rights, learning, and practicing how this comes alive in a family and community setting. For example, the civil, social and cultural rights for an Aboriginal child is to have to access and maintain connection to their country, kinship, cultural and spiritual practices.

Further to this, where a specific Aboriginal language group is named all cultural support and information should be specific to this group.

Similarly, it is of great importance in this work to understand, adhere to and embed the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle (ATSICPP) in its entirety. The strength of ATSICPP lies in the adherence to all elements which also ensures the rights of children to be protected from harm including through preventative social programs.

All Aboriginal children and families have the right to adequate housing, education and medical care despite their economic status and location. Workers must ensure that families have access to necessary supports and services to keep their children safe. These rights also apply to Aboriginal staff who work in SFS and other organisations and Aboriginal communities.

Key Expectations

Be aware of and apply the rights of the Aboriginal child in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.
- Application of relevant Declarations, Conventions and Charters, legislation, principles and practices.
Adhere to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle.
- Have the understanding and know how to apply the five elements of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle:
  - Prevention
  - Partnership
  - Placement
  - Participation
  - Connection
- Uphold the rights of the Aboriginal child to maintain connection to culture and kinship.
Ensure that a child-based rights approach is understood and reflected in practice.
- The rights and safety of the child will be always paramount.
- Practitioners will ensure child voice in self-determination and family-led decision making.
Act as an ally and advocate for the individual needs of the child.
- Know the needs of the child and advocate systemically with the family and kinship networks.
- Aboriginal child voice and voices of family and community are heard, and cultural lens is applied.

Evidencing our practice with children and families

Advocacy for child and family rights occur on individual and systemic levels and by observing and applying relevant Declarations, Conventions and Charters, legislation, principles and practices.

Reflective prompts – Have I:

learnt about the Declarations, Conventions, Charters and legislation that informs the work that I do?
advocated for the voice and needs of the child and do I understand their unique place in their family and culture?
reflected on the resources, tools and approaches which inform my practice?
given myself time to understand and reflect on adherence to all elements of the ATSICPP and the precursor of Identity?
upheld an unconditional positive regard and belief in Aboriginal peoples?
considered the power I have in this role and considered how I am using this?
considered the ways in which my practice needs to support multiple dimensions of a person’s identity and the associated rights?

Organisational prompts – Have we:

provided easy access to this information from the point of induction?
provided opportunities for reflective practice on these topics?

1.2 Understanding intergenerational trauma and strength: then and now

While there are limits to what a service can do generationally for children and families, the practitioner needs to understand the systematic damage that colonisation and subsequent policies continue to do to Aboriginal people. This impact includes loss of culture, disconnection from kinship and country, and ways of coping that can be detrimental to the health and wellbeing of individuals and families.

Staff need to ensure each interaction and each service response systematically work towards building on strengths and healing. This includes using healing and trauma responsive approaches that are premised upon trustworthiness, safety, peer and community support, collaboration, empowerment and self-determination (DHS, 2021), including the voices of those with lived experience, and honoring the centrality of culture, country and community for Aboriginal peoples. As in all practice, this needs to be attuned to the needs of the Aboriginal children, families, and communities in front of them.

Key Expectations

Have knowledge and understanding of how an organisation has historically been connected to events and practices that have led to intergenerational trauma. In particular, the experience of the Stolen Generations.
- Through deep listening and allowing time and space, families may feel comfortable voicing their past experiences and current feelings of having contact with SFS as an agency.
- Recognise the experiences of ongoing intergenerational trauma and the interrelation to multiple and complex trauma.
- Address internal feelings of shame or discomfort. Know that you cannot change the past. You are not being asked to accept responsibility but ensure that your practice is trauma and healing informed.
- Reflective practice and supervision will help you navigate your cultural learning journey and address emotions experienced as a result of interactions and discussions.

Use trauma informed, healing centered and restorative approaches in your practice with the family.
- SFS and the team around the family require a complete picture of the family’s situation. This will include the current situation and information about the past to provide services that incorporate trauma informed and healing oriented practices.
- Supporting cultural identity and connection to culture as a healing informed approach.

Acknowledge family strengths and resilience and promote a holistic view to healing.
- The unconditional positive belief in the strength and protective factor of culture.
- Understanding of generations of resilience and how healing needs to occur through generations.
- Actively seek out information that describes family and cultural strengths, stories of resilience and resistance to the concerns for safety and wellbeing.
- Narrative approaches and family stories will help practitioners understand what has not worked, what might work and what can work to support ongoing change.

Evidencing our practice with children and families

The family and child feel culturally safe and respected.

Reflective prompts – Have I:

taken the time to learn what the experiences of Aboriginal staff, families and Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) have been in their connection with the organisation?
learnt about the ongoing impact of historical events, policies and practices that have led to intergenerational trauma for Aboriginal people?
developed an understanding of what a healing approach is?
identified and voiced back to the family the strengths and resilience the family have demonstrated?
reflected upon thoughts and feelings that emerge as children and families have spoken about the trauma?

Organisational prompts – Have we:

supported staff to understand historical policies and practices that have led to intergenerational trauma?
provided the right supports for staff to practice in ways that do not cause further harm?
ensured practitioners have sufficient guidance and support for a healing approach to practice?

1.3 Culturally safe and responsive practice with Aboriginal families and communities

Culturally safe and responsive practice is a decolonising approach. Culturally responsive practices are all about the ‘centrality’ of culture and identity in working with the whole person, working with Aboriginal children, families and community, bringing your self-awareness and individual learning, and understanding the worldviews and cultural context of others.

Cultural safety will be different for each individual and needs to take into consideration past experiences, intersectionality and understandings of the world. Culturally responsive and trauma informed practice will ensure that differences are respected, culture and identity is not denied, self-determination is ensured, and stories both historical and current are listened to and actively heard.

Key Expectations

SFS will provide services that are culturally safe, responsive, and holistic. Staff will practice in ways that respond to diversity of cultural connections and experiences of Aboriginal children, families, and staff.
- Through deep listening, staff will develop understanding of how each Aboriginal individual and family connect to culture. Strengths and protective factors in culture will be actively sought and evidenced to inform all assessments and case management activities.
- The individual cultural knowledge, strengths, connections, insights and experiences of Aboriginal staff will be acknowledged, valued, honoured and applied to the work.

Demonstrate culturally responsive practice through all case management and contact with the family.
- Acknowledge the diverse cultural connections and experiences of Aboriginal families and reflect these experiences in their assessment, case management processes and review processes.
- Aboriginal parenting practices and ways of knowing, being and doing will be understood, celebrated and encouraged in practice to support connection to identity, culture, and kinship.
- Culturally responsive practice will also mean the right to self-determination, family-led decision making and cultural safety.

Evidencing our practice with children and families

The family and child will feel culturally safe and respected.
Culturally responsive practice will be applied across the case management process with culture embedded in all activities.

Reflective prompts – Have I:

spent time listening to the child and family to understand their worldview and understandings of their community and culture?
listened and stayed curious to learn families’ Aboriginal language group, connection to country and how they practice culture?
reflected on my level of comfort in engaging in these conversations?
identified and reflected cultural knowledges and practices as a strength and protective factor?
learnt about and developed a working understanding of Aboriginal ways of knowing, being and doing and how this relates to Aboriginal parenting and child rearing practices?

Organisational prompts – Have we:

provided adequate training on culturally safe and responsive practice?
provided opportunities for non-Aboriginal staff to work next to Aboriginal staff to observe and practice with mentorship?
clearly defined and provided the right training in strengths-based practice for this service context?
implemented sufficient policies, decision making structures and Aboriginal leadership positions to support self-determination?

Capability 2: Building trusting relationships

Owing to the ongoing impact of colonisation on Aboriginal peoples which takes on many forms – discriminatory policies, removal of children (stolen generations), loss of culture, displacement, denial of citizenship rights and institutional discrimination, Aboriginal people do not always trust social service systems or the people that work within them. It is also important to realise that while practitioners and organisations might think they create places and interactions of safety, Aboriginal staff, families and Aboriginal workers may not experience them as safe.

Thus, building trusting relationships requires consideration of the self and what you bring (both in your relationships with families and with colleagues); understanding the history and impact of colonisation, injustices, racist policies and damaging systems; exploring with Aboriginal families what safety and trust looks like for them; and taking steps to build trusting relationship-based practice with this knowledge.

A key element of this is Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal staff working in partnership, bringing individual strengths and complementing each other’s cultural and clinical knowledges to create culturally safe working relationships, environments and organisations as part of a commitment to embed decolonising practices, resulting in a culturally safe and responsive organisation.

Standards for Capability 2

There are four standards.

2.1 Understanding self in practice

Understanding ourselves is one of the most important steps in practicing in human and social services. We need to be clear about what we are bringing to our interactions with families, how we are seen and experienced by the people we work with, what impact our practice has on the family, strengths we bring to our work and what we need to do to improve our practice.

Being a true ally means you will engage in a lifelong learning process of unlearning, relearning, and evaluating your own processes, thoughts, and actions. Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal practitioners will work in partnership and create a culturally safe space for engagement with the family. Practitioners will honour the individual strengths of each person in the care team and ensure the family are able to feel comfortable with both practitioners, creating a united partnership over time. Practitioners will understand what each practitioner brings to the team and how their day-to-day interactions impact on their colleagues and the families they work with.

There may be times where the practitioner’s experiences and traumas will be triggered by the nature of the work. Practitioners must engage in reflective processes to address the impact of these experiences and traumas on the work they do and identify strategies that will reduce the likelihood of the family being impacted by these experiences. Identifying triggers is not a weakness but a necessary reflective lifelong process throughout your career.

Key Expectations

Understanding of self in practice and what we bring to interactions with families.
- Critically reflect on the knowledge, values, attitudes, biases and traditions you bring to the work with children and families.
- Acknowledge privilege, address and seek to dismantle power structures.

Engage in lifelong critical reflection to identify personal triggers that may be experienced due to the nature of work.
- Engage in reflective processes to address the impact of triggers and identify strategies to ensure families are not disadvantaged.

Be mindful of how day-to-day interactions with colleagues impact on the broader team and in turn the families you work with.
- Acknowledge the strengths that individual practitioners bring to the team.
- Work in a spirit of partnership honouring the input of cultural and clinical perspectives equally.
- Create a culturally safe environment for all staff.
- Be mindful that Aboriginal families and practitioners experience ongoing colonising practices and racism on a variety of levels. Actively encourage and create a culturally safe and responsive organisational environment and culture.

Evidencing our practice with children and families

Practitioners will apply reflective practice and address personal biases or stereotypes.
Practitioners will be supported to critically reflect upon and address triggers that may impact on their work with families.

Reflective prompts – Have I:

critically reflected upon what I bring into my practice?
identified and addressed triggers I bring to the work that I do?
acknowledged my privilege and biases, and addressed power imbalances to the best of my ability?
applied social justice frameworks, addressed issues of injustice, prejudices and racist policies and practices?
commenced my journey of lifelong learning to increase my ability to practice in ways that are culturally responsive and ensure allyship accountability?

Organisational prompts – Have we:

actively supported the lifelong learning journey of staff?
created a safe space for staff to raise issues of racism and systemic failure?
provided opportunities and supported staff to safely address personal triggers and how it impacts on their practice?
created a culturally safe and responsive workplace and organisation for staff and families?

2.2 Understanding the self in the system, the team and with the family

Opportunities for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal practitioners to work alongside each other provide space for a two-way learning process to occur. It creates a dynamic process of synergising the cultural and clinical into a holistic picture of the child and family’s world. This process facilitates a balanced view of seeing and comprehending the story as each practitioner begins to understand how the cultural and clinical view informs and intersects the perspective of each other. The individual strengths and knowledges of each practitioner builds a web of support around the family as they engage in this system that surrounds them.

Each practitioner’s expertise is valued for the holistic assessment to be meaningful and reflective of the family’s situation. This partnership between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal workers can contribute to decolonising the system and fostering positive experiences for the family.

Critical reflection is used to identify power dimensions, assumptive thinking and how practice can be improved to achieve positive outcomes for families and children. This can be further broken down reflecting on culturally responsive and trauma informed practices.

We must take the time to stop, feel, consider, evaluate and ultimately change practice to ensure we are continually incorporating Aboriginal best practice. This is an ongoing process by way of cultural consultancy, adherence to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle (ATSICPP), Aboriginal family-led decision-making processes, culturally responsive assessments, case planning, reviews and regular supervision.

Evaluation feedback from families including those with lived experience and other parts of the human service system should be actively sought and reflected in system responses and embedded into service provision to ensure the service meets the needs of the family.

Key Expectations

Understanding self in the system.
- Understand how practitioners contribute to the family’s experience of the system in which you sit and how you can advocate as an ally.

Work in partnership and engage in a two-way process of learning and knowing.
- Share cultural and clinical knowledges and form a holistic view where each perspective is honoured and visible in all case management activities.

Seek regular feedback from families, lived experience and other parts of the human service system to ensure the service is meeting the needs of the client. Reflect on and adjust your own practice accordingly.
- Have a variety of mechanisms to capture feedback and ensure a feedback loop occurs so that the organisation becomes known for not just consulting but also acting upon consultation and feedback.

Evidencing our practice with children and families

Cultural and clinical views will be evident in all case plans.
Regular feedback will be encouraged and feedback loops will occur.

Reflective prompts – Have I:

created a holistic assessment and case plan where cultural and clinical perspectives are evident?
provided opportunities for clients to provide feedback and recognised how my practice impacts on their experience of the service?

Organisational prompts – Have we:

supported practitioners to develop systems thinking and apply it in context?
created systems to collect feedback, enabled service changes and provided feedback loops?

2.3 Trusting, culturally safe engagement

Building a trusting and open relationship is integral to Aboriginal best practice. It means spending time to get to know Aboriginal children, families, and the wider community we are working with. Practitioners need to create spaces and interactions where families feel respected and listened to, and where difficult conversations can occur safely.

In trusting and cultural safe engagement, it is also important to bring who you are, your care and your kindness in genuine partnership.

Practitioners are required to apply strengths-based, trauma and healing informed approaches that value the voice of the child and family. Aboriginal knowledges, protocols and experiences will be valued and reflected as a strength and protective factor. Transparent, timely decision making will occur alongside the family to ensure that everyone is thinking about keeping the child safe in the family or kinship system wherever possible.

Families are more likely to feel safe enough to engage when they feel heard, have had time to tell the story of their journey to the point of contact, feel respected and not judged, feel they are being treated fairly, when their intergenerational trauma and systemic racism is acknowledged and their cultural perspectives are valued, and when they are invited into Aboriginal family-led decision making processes.

Key Expectations

Clearly explain the service and the families’ rights and responsibilities, the worker’s role and responsibility, risk and safety concerns, and why we are engaging the family.
- A clear and direct conversation with the family about risk and safety concerns. Continual shared understanding of how the family will work towards risk reduction and increased safety for the child.
- Introduction to the service is important to help the family understand what they can expect from the service.
- The role and responsibility of the worker will be clearly articulated and the rights and responsibilities of the client will be addressed.

Use language that families find easy to understand.
- Use language that is easy to understand and simplify difficult concepts.
- Direct questioning may lead to misunderstandings and discourage participation; use ‘roundabout’ approaches.
- Do not use multilevel questions. Ask one question at a time and allow response time.
- Engage an interpreter if English is not their first language.

Employ deep listening and observation skills.
- Suspend judgment, be fully present and attempt to understand the clients experience or point of view.
- Hear more than just the words being spoken – note body language, unspoken needs and feelings. This is felt through the heart, body, and mind.

Evidencing our practice with children and families

Families will report positive engagement, acknowledge and demonstrate understanding of the service, the worker’s role and responsibility, and their own rights and responsibilities.

Reflective prompts – Have I:

introduced SFS and supported children and families to understand their rights and responsibilities, and explored the worker’s role and responsibilities and our approach?
used a ‘whole person centered’ approach in my engagement with the family?
spent time learning and applying deep listening skills?
engaged an interpreter if English is not their first language?
openly and clearly discussed risk and safety concerns with families and sought a shared understanding of the mitigation plan?

Organisational prompts – Have we:

developed service materials for families and practitioners that are easy to access and easy to understand?
provided a list of interpreters for staff and advised how to access them?

2.4 Building supportive connections with families

Practitioners can build strong, trusting, supportive connections with families as they spend time listening and being with the family. Strong engagement can be built by recognising family and cultural strengths, allowing families to take the lead, supporting families to locate strategies to address concerns and celebrating success regularly to support momentum and embed change.

Key Expectations

Build strong, trusting, supportive relationships with families.
- Relationships will be based on openness, trust and transparent practice.
- The family and the care team will work in partnership to identify ways to keep children safe in their family, at home and culture.
- The family will actively engage with SFS and work to create and sustain safe and healthy environments and connections within kinship and culture.

Evidencing our practice with children and families

Families actively engage with services and demonstrate their willingness to address safety and risk concerns due to feeling respected and safe.

Reflective prompts – Have I:

built strong, trusting relationships with the family?
spent time being with and listening to the family to understand how to support them in culturally responsive ways?

Organisational prompts – Have we:

allocated sufficient worker time for trusting respectful relationships to be built and established?

Capability 3: Working with families to create change

Developing culturally responsive, safe, open and transparent partnerships that encourage self-determination will help families engage with our service and to feel a sense of power in making decisions to create sustainable positive change within their family.

Supporting the family to identify and address issues by applying positive culturally appropriate strategies will embed positive changes that can be maintained over time. These strategies include connecting families to the strengths of individuals and family members and community resources that increase family functioning and ensure long lasting change.

Standards

There are three standards.

3.1 Moving from engagement to creating change

It is important to meaningfully engage with families in ways that are transparent, trauma responsive, culturally respectful and strengths-based to help the family understand concerns for safety, risk and harm for their children and family. Family and cultural strengths must be identified and voiced to the family to encourage a safe environment for them to express their worries or concerns for their child and family. Cultural and community knowledge about the best way to keep children safe in culture will be valued and implemented.

Creating change means supporting the family to identify and acknowledge concerns and risks, scaffolding the families to address the issues, setting goals with the family, utilising family-led decision making processes, participating in developing and maintaining safety plans, supporting community connections and sharing knowledge of how to seek help if the need arises in the future.

Key Expectations

Have transparent, honest, brave and empowering conversations that build shared understanding of risks and strengths. Collectively set goals that acknowledge safety and risks.
- Have respectful transparent discussions outlining risks and concerns.
- Talk to the family about the strengths you have noticed in their family. Ensure this is reflected in case notes.

Encourage self-determination through goal setting and family-led decision making.
- Help families take the lead and encourage them to develop their own strategies and responses to ensure children’s safety and wellbeing.
- Be inclusive. Support all family members to be part of the decision making process including nominated community, those with the cultural authority and decision makers.

Evidencing our practice with children and families

Family will understand the risks and concerns held for their child(ren) and want to make changes. They will also understand their strengths and have a voice in guiding changes that need to be made and the support they need from our service.
Family will set goals to address issues with the support of staff.
Aboriginal family-led decision making will be central to practice.

Reflective prompts – Have I:

persistently followed up where there has been disengagement and been proactive when there are signs of disengagement?
had respectful transparent discussions outlining risks and concerns with the family and listened to the cultural stories that the family carry?
helped the family take the lead and encouraged them to identify and develop strategies to address concerns?
been inclusive and ensured opportunities for all family members to be part of the decision making process?

Organisational prompts – Have we:

considered how can we implement processes that support cultural considerations in the assessments and planning processes that include the voices of family and community and from cultural consultations, Aboriginal staff or ACCOs?

3.2 Holistic assessment

Holistic social and emotional wellbeing assessments are undertaken to provide high quality assessment and care for children and families. Holistic assessments include information about physical, psychological, social, cultural and spiritual wellbeing with each domain interconnecting and impacting on one another.

Assessments are completed through a whole of team approach with shared understandings and incorporating strong cultural and clinical information throughout. True and reflective clinical assessments cannot be made without cultural identities, knowledges, connections, responses, approaches and understandings embedded across all domains.

Key Expectations

Apply a whole of team approach in working with families incorporating clinical and cultural focusses with both modalities being central to the assessment and case management of the client journey.
- Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal staff will be expected to combine their practice wisdom to ensure a holistic plan that is reflective of cultural values is formed.
- Cultural and clinical information from the child, the family, SFS and the care team surrounding the family will be combined to inform a holistic picture of social and emotional wellbeing and family functioning.
- A holistic assessment and case plan to address concerns will be created with the family. The plan will identify strengths, cultural connections and gaps in service, and ensure clear direction.

Evidencing our practice with children and families

Families experience a supportive team approach where roles and responsibilities are clear.
Cultural considerations are reflected in practice and documentation.

Reflective prompts – Have I:

undertaken a holistic social and emotional wellbeing assessment that supports my understanding of the child and family’s safety and wellbeing needs in the context of culture?
undertaken cultural consultancy, applied cultural considerations to identify strengths and protective factors?
applied the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle?

Organisational prompts – Have we:

supported staff to develop a shared assessment process that honours clinical and cultural perspectives?
ensured staff are provided with practice guidance and tools and that cultural consultative roles and processes are in place to enable both clinical and cultural knowledges to be applied to the assessment process?

3.3 Strengthening and maintaining change with families

Through strengths-based case management built on trusting relationships, the practitioner can encourage, identify and celebrate with the family as they demonstrate their expertise in growing strong safe children in their family and kinship systems.

As work progresses, the practitioner can support the family to create connections in the community and connect to natural kinship and community systems that are easily accessible for ongoing everyday support. Aboriginal children should wherever safe, be held in family and community. Practitioners can work alongside the family to develop a toolbox of skills, knowledge and resources to access in times of adversity and challenge.

As change is maintained, the intensity of work may slow down to allow the family to demonstrate the application of change.

Key Expectations

Work alongside the family to support them to build a toolbox of skills, knowledge and resources that they can access, particularly in times of diversity and challenge.
- Identify appropriate resources, skills, knowledge and support systems that will scaffold the family through the case management process. Ensure it is embedded as service intensity decreases so families can identify appropriate community support systems to seek self-help.

Scaffold the family with support systems that exist in culture. Celebrate success and mastery of new and emerging skills and abilities.
- Ensure families clearly know how to implement their skills, strategies and networks prior to exiting the support of the program.
- Encourage the family to access important kinship and cultural connections as a system of safety and support.

Evidencing our practice with children and families

Creation of a toolbox of resources and skills that families find helpful to support and embed change.
Identify appropriate resources, skills, knowledge and systems that will support the family as they embed change.

Reflective prompts – Have I:

supported the family to create and access a toolbox of tools to embed change?
supported families to create a network of support in the community?

Organisational prompts - Have we:

provided staff with training opportunities and tools that support connection to culture to strengthen and sustain change?

Capability 4: Building a team with and around families

A ‘whole of team approach’ is where a client is provided a team-based model of care that supports them through a coordinated effort. The team works collaboratively to accomplish shared goals and may include other disciplines, external organisations, Aboriginal practitioners, and relevant family members. It is important that the team operates in a cohesive manner and does not allow the creation of silos or factions between individual team members and the family. Each member of the team must contribute their expertise to the client journey to form a shared social and emotional wellbeing assessment and case plan.

Standards

There are two standards.

4.1 Negotiating a supportive team (including with Aboriginal specific services)

A supportive and effective team is one where the whole team and family effectively communicate with one another, where their ideas, observations, expertise and decision making responsibilities can respectfully merge to create a comprehensive client centered plan. This may include the voices, opinions and expertise of Aboriginal family decision makers, Aboriginal staff outside of SFS and ACCOs.

Key Expectations

Identify and establish a team of key stakeholders to work with the family. All team members must be clear about their roles and responsibilities.
- The team walking alongside the family could be made up of SFS workers, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, cultural consultants, Aboriginal staff from external Aboriginal organisations and from a variety of disciplines.
- Each member of the team will have a specialised focus. A coordinated plan where all members can clearly identify their roles and responsibilities must be created and communicated effectively to the family.

Create a team that has the right people with the right skills and identify service gaps.
- When considering the team walking alongside the family, ensure that the team has the necessary skills to support the family to be successful. Take note of gaps and ensure they are addressed.

Ensure there is a process of accountability. Follow up outstanding actions.
- Hold regular meetings and encourage ongoing, transparent communication between team members. Record meetings with clear, concise case notes and ensure follow up actions clearly identify who will complete outstanding actions and by when. In particular, take note of this when team members change.

Evidencing our practice with children and families

Risks and concerns will be identified and addressed via a team approach.
All team members will be aware of their roles and responsibilities and what they need to contribute to achieve outcomes.

Reflective prompts – Have I?

ensured the right people are at the table to best support this family and addressed gaps in the care team?
established clear roles, responsibilities and expectations for each worker in the team that is working alongside the family?

Organisational prompts – Have we?

created partnerships with other Aboriginal staff, ACCOs and Aboriginal communities to support the work we do with families?

4.2 Maintaining the team around the family to support and sustain change

It is important to ensure the child and family have a supportive team around them for the duration of the engagement process. There will be times when certain members of the team are more active than at other times; this could be due to different levels of support from practitioners, family members or community particularly as service intensity decreases. The intensity of work may also vary depending on changing needs and the stage of engagement of the family. At the later stages, as the service starts to transition out and move towards case closure, it will be important for the child and family to be connected into family, community connections and resources to ensure they are adequately supported.

Ongoing cultural consultancy is imperative to drive culturally appropriate service delivery; this may include connection to external Aboriginal staff and agencies.

Key Expectations

Identify service intensity and coordinate and monitor the team to ensure the child and family’s needs and goals are met.
- Through ongoing case management, identify times when intensive support is required. Identify an appropriate time to decrease and ultimately close the case. Be aware of who is working with the family. Communicate regularly with members of the team.

Decrease level of SFS support as increased safety and wellbeing is demonstrated by the family.
- With support from the team the family will demonstrate the ability to address safety concerns and embed changes.

Connect the family into cultural, kinship and community support as demand for service decreases.
- Families will be able to identify and locate cultural, kinship and community supports. They can recognise early on when they experience the need for further support and can seek out these mechanisms to improve and restore family wellbeing and functioning.
- Children and families will be able to lean into their kinship network for support.

Evidencing our practice with children and families

The child is feeling connected and safe in their family and are demonstrating this across a variety of domains.

Reflective prompts – Have I?

maintained a care team around the family for the duration of service delivery that meets the needs of the family?
ensured the family can connect with kinship and community supports early?
supported the family to address all concerns, risks, and harm?

Organisational prompts – Have we?

created systems that monitor and address the drop out of other services leaving a gap in service provision?

Glossary

The Aboriginal Cultural Practice Framework guides and shapes Aboriginal best practice. It starts with conceptual clarity and the idea that when you learn a fundamental concept the first time and develop an understanding, there is more capacity to learn, un-learn and re-learn new things. This glossary is a non-exhaustive list of Aboriginal terms and how they are to be viewed in the context of Safer Family Services (SFS) Aboriginal best practice in current community accepted definitions.

Aboriginal Family-led Decision Making

Aboriginal Family-Led Decision Making (AFLDM) is a practice involving all or a combination of the family, child/young person, elders, respected community members, support agencies and anyone else the family deems important with the aim of truth telling, identifying strengths and agreeing on actions and solutions towards best outcomes for families to keep their children safe and well at home. AFLDM is both an identified standalone model as well as a best practice model.

Aboriginal people

In the context of SFS when using the term Aboriginal people, it is inclusive of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This is not to deny an individual’s identity but seeks to acknowledge the local South Australian context and that the work SFS undertakes is grounded on Aboriginal lands.

Ally/Allyship

An Ally is a person from a privileged group who works with marginalised groups to improve and correct systemic issues, stand up to injustices that challenge basic rights, equal access and the ability to thrive in society. This lifelong process or journey is known as Allyship – the process of learning, understanding and building meaningful relationships based on trust and accountability with marginalised individuals and/or groups of people.

Allyship accountability

The willingness to critically reflect on thought processes, biases, decisions and processes, whilst being receptive and open to feedback and taking responsibility for one’s actions free from defensiveness or ignorance. SFS is committed to intersectional Allyship and support all members of the community inclusive of ability, gender, sexuality, culture, religion, class and language.

Complex trauma

Is when one is exposed to multiple and compounding traumatic events and experiences. Most of the events are severe and pervasive such as racism, constant grief and loss, abuse, or profound neglect.

Cultural Authority

Cultural Authorities are holders of cultural knowledge who have specific significance or status in the identified community, family or workplace. What this means to each community varies and is as diverse as culture itself. Cultural Authority is not interchangeable with the term ‘Elder’; however, elders can also be cultural authorities.

Cultural Consultation

Aboriginal Cultural Consultation is the process of formally engaging Aboriginal people who hold extensive knowledge and lived experience within their own culture. Cultural consultation can happen in many ways but will consist of understanding the family’s identity and cultural connections, understanding what this means for the individuals or family and how this affects all life domains and case planning/implantation, and providing cultural and clinical guidance for the workers to best support a family from a cultural lens.

Cultural decision maker

Cultural decision makers are family that hold cultural knowledge, influence and respect in the family, community or kinship network, and who have a relationship with the child and family. A cultural decision maker can inform and support actions and sits in the context of Aboriginal Family-led Decision Making (AFLDM). Decision making will always be formed in the lens of child safety and connection to family and community.

Cultural lens

A cultural lens is the consideration and application of how we perceive our environment based on knowledge, values, attitudes and the traditions of the group with which we most identify. Applying an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural lens means stepping back and considering one’s own identity and values, how one’s background influences these perspectives, adding knowledge and understanding, and embracing history, culture and Aboriginal ways of ‘knowing, being and doing’.

Cultural responsiveness

Cultural responsiveness is the preferred term over ‘cultural competence.’ Cultural responsiveness sets a standard for the extent of one’s ability to work from a cultural lens.

Cultural safety

Cultural safety means that Aboriginal culture is respected, acknowledged, and celebrated. It is providing a safe environment for all Aboriginal people to be themselves and to express their identity and culture, knowing that this will be respected. Cultural safety is the extension of allyship accountability and cultural lens application.

Decolonising

The active undoing of colonialism and process in which we rethink, reframe, and reconstruct the colonial lens. Aboriginal peoples will decolonise through genuine self-determination.

Intergenerational trauma

Intergenerational trauma, sometimes referred to as trans- or multigenerational trauma, occurs when the effects of trauma are passed down between generations. This is experienced by families and communities as a consequence of unspoken histories and ongoing effects of past policies which resulted in stolen generations, displacement from land and disconnection from culture.

Institutional racism

This is when racism is established as normal behavior within an organisation or society and is reinforced with subsequent policies and practices.

Racism

Racism is the ideology based on the belief that one’s race or ethnic group is preferable to another. This often results in the mistreatment and marginalisation of people or minority groups based on that prejudice.

Self-determination

Refers to the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to hold choice and decision-making powers that lead to the active determination of their own social, political, economic, and cultural interests.

Structural racism

This refers to inequalities found in societies that tend to exclude some groups of people.

Systemic racism

The continuation of institutional and structural racism is when the policies and practices of institutions result in unfair treatment of some groups compared to others. Systemic racism occurs in institutions such as education and government.

White privilege

White privilege or white skinned privilege is the societal privilege that benefits white people over non-white people in some societies, particularly if they are otherwise under the same social, political, or economic circumstances.