The Child Placement Principle has a very special meaning to the Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander community. It was a community initiative born out of pioneering grassroots action by the newly formed Aboriginal and Islander Child Care Agencies (AICCA) movement in the 1970s. Long before the Apology, it was an acknowledgment that serious harm can be caused to children by separation from their families, communities and culture. It was a protection against the continuation of the devastation caused to the Stolen Generations and the whole community. In the 1970s this was fresh in recent memory. As the various states and territories accepted it into policy and eventually in legislation (in Queensland it has been part of legislation for over a decade) it was an encouraging sign that the days of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children growing up without fully knowing their country, community and identity were coming to an end.
In 2007, QATSICPP produced a report on the Child Placement Principle. Now in 2011, in developing this second report on the Child Placement Principle, QATSICPP hopes to again shine a light on this important area of departmental intervention.
