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.

• 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.

• 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