18/06/2025
Close the Gap on out- of- home Care Part 2 ; Award of the state herself, Rachel’s experience speaks to a national crisis: the overrepresentation of Indigenous children in out-of-home care, a system that the former federal senator Pat Dodson likened to genocide.
This overrepresentation begins before children are born, with prenatal birth alerts triggered during hospital or health assessments if there are concerns for the wellbeing of an unborn child.
At the end of 2024, Rachel* was days away from giving birth. Her feet were dangerously swollen and she was sleeping rough outside an Aboriginal support service in the city.
Her reluctance to seek antenatal care meant the usual routine of scurrying between midwives and doctors appointments for ultrasounds, blood tests and screenings was absent.
Pregnant with her second child, she was terrified to seek help from a hospital, fearing her unborn baby would be taken away from her. Her first son was removed at just 11 months old.
“I knew I was pregnant with my second boy,” she says. “But I didn’t want to go to the hospital and have them tell DCP [Department of Child Protection]. I had the same feelings [of fear] I had with my big boy.”
When Rachel eventually presented at a northern Perth hospital, she was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, a serious pregnancy complication, and told she would be induced the following week. After being transferred to King Edward memorial hospital, the child protection department was notified – without her consent.
“Nothing was supposed to be said,” she says. “It was all supposed to be confidential. But the hospital told DCP I was pregnant. They rang them later that same day.”
Rachel had been flagged under WA Health’s “child at risk” alert policy, drafted to reflect the statutory responsibility of healthcare workers as mandatory reporters of suspected child abuse. Though designed to ensure child safety, the policy can have wide-ranging consequences for families involved.
Rachel says she struggled to cope after her first son was removed. “I started using more drugs because they took my baby off me,” she says. “They could have helped me.”
After giving birth to her second son, she was discharged. But her newborn, who was experiencing breathing and feeding difficulties, remained in hospital. “They wouldn’t let me stay with my baby,” she says. “They couldn’t accommodate me. I don’t know why.”
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Though social workers arranged a phone and referrals to shelters and rehab services, navigating multiple appointments across the city without transport or a stable home was overwhelming for the new mother.
“I tried to go back every three or four hours to feed my baby,” she says. “But if I missed a feed, they said I was neglecting him.”
Hospital staff told her the baby wasn’t getting enough milk. “Every time I breastfed, they came with bottles.”
Read full story
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jun/18/birth-alerts-are-meant-to-help-children-at-risk-of-abuse-they-are-routinely-used-against-aboriginal-mothers?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
NACCHO Aboriginal Health Australia
Katie Kiss - Social Justice Commissioner
Senator Malarndirri McCarthy - Northern Territory
SNAICC-National Voice for our Children
National Association of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health Workers
Croakey - Informed, engaged communities for health
