Aboriginal Children’s Forum

The ACF aims to:

• Acknowledge and celebrate the survival, resilience and success of Aboriginal families and communities in the face of the devastating impacts of colonisation, dispossession and assimilation
• Eliminate the over-representation of Aboriginal children in child protection, out of home care and reduce the number of those that progress to the youth justice system
• Successfully transition the authority and services for all Aboriginal children to Aboriginal organisations
• Ensure Aboriginal children and young people leaving statutory systems are supported to reconnect with family and community
• Provide a sustained Aboriginal community-based prevention and early intervention system to respond to vulnerability as and when it arises
• Apply Aboriginal ways of responding to child and family issues including family violence
• Reform the child and family services system to address systemic racism and individual and institutional bias and build culturally sensitive practice within mainstream services.

ACF standing membership is restricted to:

• Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations meeting the following criteria:

1. Registered and funded to provide services under the Children, Youth and Families (CYF) Act (2005) (the Act) or;
2. ACCOs preparing for registration may attend with the support of the ACF Koorie Caucus.
3. ACCOs whose primary focus is on service delivery, policy development and/or funding of services for vulnerable Aboriginal children and families 

• Other organisations and government departments whose primary focus is on service delivery, policy development and/or funding of services for vulnerable Aboriginal children and families under the Act. This includes Children’s Court where their decisions impact Aboriginal children and families under the Act.
• The role/individual in attendance at the ACF must have decision-making power within their organisation.
• Membership currently comprises of ACCO member majority (50%) and applications for membership will be considered in alignment with this

Based on these criteria, the agreed standing members are:

Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation (2 x attendees per ACCO):

• Rotating Co-Chair – CEO from an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation (ACCO)
• Ballarat and District Aboriginal Co-operative • Bendigo and District Aboriginal Co-operative
• Dandenong and District Aborigines Co-operative Limited
• Gippsland and East Gippsland Aboriginal Co-operative
• Goolum Goolum Aboriginal Co-operative
• Gunditjmara Aboriginal Co-operative Limited
• Mallee District Aboriginal Services (MDAS)
• Mungabareena Aboriginal Corporation
• Murray Valley Aboriginal Co-operative
• Njernda Aboriginal Corporation
• Ramahyuck District Aboriginal Corporation
• Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative
• Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (6 representatives)
• Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative
• Winda-Mara Aboriginal Corporation
• Dhauwurd-Wurrung Elderly and Community Health Service

Department of Families Fairness and Housing:

• Secretary
• Deputy Secretaries of operational divisions + 1 additional staff member (+1 more if hosting)
• Divisional Aboriginal Engagement Managers (1 from each division) to ensure local engagement
• Director, Aboriginal Strategy and Oversight Unit
• Deputy Secretary, Children, Families, Communities and Disability Division
• Executive Director, Children and Families • DFFH Aboriginal Principal Adviser, OPP
• Director, Child Protection Policy Unit
• Principal Aboriginal Advisor, CFCD
• Aboriginal Initiatives and Policy organising team (3 representatives) will be present but not as members Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP) (2 representatives)
• The Minister for Child Protection and Family Services
• Commission for Children and Young People (CCYP) (2 representatives)
• Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare (CFECFW) (1 representative)
• Community Service Organisations (CSOs) registered and funded under the Act (5)
• A/Assistant Director, Aboriginal Affairs Policy, Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) (1 representative)
• Executive Director, Inclusion and Engagement Branch, Family Safety Victoria (FSV) (1 representative)
• Executive Director Koorie Outcomes, Department of Education and Training (DET) (1 representative)
• Judge, Court Services Victoria (2 representatives)The current standing membership has Aboriginal representation from non-government organisations at approximately 50% of attendees.

ACF standing membership decision-making process

All requests for membership (including requests directed to the Minister) are to be redirected to the ACF Working Group.

The ACF Working Group makes a recommendation to the ACF based on the alignment of the request with the ACF’s purpose and membership criteria.

Voting rights are given to all ACCOs (16 votes total), CFECFW (1 vote), DFFH Secretary (1 vote), Operational Deputy Secretaries (4 votes) and CCYP (1 vote).

Other organisations will be invited to attend an ACF by the working group based on the specific topic for discussion.