A strengths based approach to Australian Aboriginal childrearing practices is the answer to better outcomes in Aboriginal family and child health

Abstract

[Extract] The issues facing families today are complex and multifaceted. Issues such as poverty, child maltreatment, substance use, and the stability of families all have an impact on the development of children (Lietz, Andereck, & Knopf, 2010). The issues for Australian Aboriginal families are compounded by the struggle to overcome the negative effects of the country's colonial past (Kulhankova, 2011), the traumas associated with the 'Stolen Generation' (Saggers, Walter, & Gray, 2011), and the fact that even this generation of Indigenous children is haunted by the legacy of the history of forceful removal of children from the homes of Indigenous families (Ewen & McCoy, 2011). However, little has actually been documented about Aboriginal childrearing practices, confirmed by health, government and non government representatives at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people's health and wellbeing conference held at Lennons in Brisbane, Qld on 26th to 27th May 2010, which makes it harder for non-Indigenous Australians to understand Aboriginal approaches to childrearing. There have been a few research studies ( [Von Sturmer, 1980], [Hamilton, 1981] and [Kearins, 1984]) that have described Aboriginal childrearing practices; in addition to this are the contemporary works of professionals such as Aboriginal Professor Helen Milroy (UWA) in Aboriginal Child and Adolescent Health, Prof. Robyn Penman, who conducted the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Children, along with various other Aboriginal community organisations that provide Aboriginal family services. These studies provide seminal sources to inform the development of Aboriginal family service delivery. However there appears to have been a period of disengagement in the process of bringing together Aboriginal community knowledge and research based knowledge to inform family support policy development and services by governments that are acceptable and accessible to Aboriginal families.