Family Matters Report 2025 warns urgent investment is needed to keep First Nations children safe and connected

The latest Family Matters Report 2025: Strong, Loved and Full of Potential has highlighted stalled national progress in reducing the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in child protection systems, calling for a significant shift towards prevention and community-led decision-making.

SNAICC – National Voice for our Children has released the tenth annual Family Matters report, confirming that despite long-standing commitments under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, efforts to reduce the number of First Nations children in out-of-home care have not advanced.

The report reinforces a message widely shared across the early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector: families need sustained, culturally anchored support long before statutory intervention occurs. It warns that current systems continue to prioritise late, punitive responses rather than the early, community-led services known to keep children safe, strong and connected.

Data presented in Family Matters 2025 shows that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children remain disproportionately represented at every stage of the child protection pathway. Key findings include:

• Children are 9.6 times more likely to be in out-of-home care or on third-party parental responsibility orders than non-Indigenous children.
• Infants are 8.9 times more likely to enter out-of-home care than non-Indigenous infants.
• Only 7.3 per cent of children were reunified with family, compared with 10.1 per cent of non-Indigenous children.
• 37.6 per cent exited care into other circumstances, including homelessness and detention.
• Only 15.6 per cent of total child protection expenditure was directed to family services – around 16 cents of every dollar.
• Nationally (excluding Western Australia), just 6.8 per cent of child protection budgets went to Aboriginal community-controlled organisations (ACCOs).
• Only 32.1 per cent of children in care were placed with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kin.

The report identifies that ACCO-led early intervention, prevention and family support programs are effective and culturally grounded, yet these services remain critically underfunded while crisis-driven statutory systems continue to attract the majority of investment.

The 2025 edition reaffirms that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children thrive when raised with strong connections to family, community, Country and culture. It emphasises the roles of kin, Elders and community in nurturing children’s wellbeing and identity, principles also reflected in the National Quality Standard, including Quality Area 1 and Quality Area 6.

The report calls for governments to honour commitments under Closing the Gap by transferring decision-making authority and investment to First Nations communities. Recommendations include:

• Ensuring equitable access to culturally safe, community-led early years and family support services
• Legislating ACCO-led family decision-making and youth participation frameworks
• Strengthening compliance with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle and ending adoption from out-of-home care
• Improving transparency and accountability through First Nations peak bodies and Commissioners for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people

The report confirms that Australia is not on track to achieve Target 12, a 45 per cent reduction in the over-representation of First Nations children in out-of-home care by 2031. It warns that without system-wide reform and significant reinvestment in prevention, current trends are likely to continue.

For the ECEC sector, the findings reinforce the critical role of early learning services in supporting children’s cultural identity, strengthening family connections and collaborating with ACCOs to ensure culturally responsive practice across the early years.

SNAICC’s message is clear: when families are supported early, and when communities hold authority in decisions about children, children grow up strong, proud and safe in culture, kin and community.

Readers can access the full Family Matters Report 2025 and data snapshot via the Family Matters webpage.