A new research shows that understanding Indigenous parenting attitudes will help improve child welfare.
The research conducted by Dr BJ Newton, Research Associate at the Social Policy Research Centre of the University of New South Wales, found that although Aboriginal parents did not identify large differences between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal parenting, inter-generational trauma and associated factors such as racism and discrimination made it difficult for them to care for their children the way they wanted to.
According to DR Newton “We have been applying Western ways to Indigenous communities for 200 years and it hasn’t worked.”
Based on her observation of this failure, Dr Newton embarked on the study exploring Aboriginal parents and workers’ views and the experiences of the day-to-day lives of a group of Aboriginal families living in a small NSW country town where Aboriginal people make up about 25% of the population.
The aim of the research was to find what those Aboriginal parents actually want for their children; their attitude to parenting.
“It is crucial to learn the perspective of those people that the policy and service delivery is aimed at because they are the most valuable source of knowledge about why they struggle to provide for their children,” says Newton.
Based on her findings Dr Newton recommends that service providers seek to understand Aboriginal attitudes towards parenting in order to tailor services to community needs and achieve better childcare outcomes.
