The NSW government has endorsed four new Aboriginal childcare agencies for out of home care.
The Minister for Family and Community Services, Pru Goward, presented certificates enabling four new Aboriginal organisations to care for Indigenous children, bringing the total number in the state to 10.
"It's a historic day for Aboriginal families, and in particular Aboriginal children," said Ms Goward.
The new agencies are located in Western Sydney, Coffs Harbour, the Illawarra and Hunter regions.
Angela Webb from the NSW Aboriginal Child, Support and Community Care, says the process of obtaining accreditation was difficult but rewarding.
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"I feel so proud to go through this process, to successfully come out and know they're going to have Aboriginal kids being looked after by Aboriginal carers in their own community, that's really inspiring," she said.
One such carer is Rhonda Cruse-Rawiri, who has been a carer for the last 14 years, raising five of her own children. She said that there is an important bond between Aboriginal children and their carers.
"It's really heartbreaking that kids go out into the community and are [staying] with non-Aboriginal carers, and grow up not knowing who their mob are," said Ms Cruse-Rawiri.
6,000 NSW children in care are Indigenous, but only 700 have Indigenous carers.
The aim is to have 841 places for Indigenous children in 24 organisations.
The announcement is a step towards moving out-of-home care services from state control to the non-government sector. It is expected that such transfer will be completed by 2017.
