Members of Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory say their people's connection to culture and country are in danger, if Indigenous children continue to be placed in non-Indigenous care.
Currently holding hearings in Alice Springs, the Royal Commission into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory has heard evidence regarding the rates of forced removals of at risk Aboriginal children from their families.
By law, placement with extended family and the broader Indigenous community must be considered above other options.
But Territory Families senior child protection Officer Kirsten Schinkel has admitted her department didn't prioritise placing Indigenous children with kinship carers.
The grandfather of a boy who was taken into care says his grandson lost his cultural identity after being removed when he was just seven years old.
Appearing before the Commission as CO, he's described how difficult it's been to introduce the boy, now aged 18, to a culture he doesn't understand.
"When he came back home he could only speak English so we had to speak English to him. I had to give him to my grandchildren, my other grandchildren, I had little boys from - maybe he's 18, 17, and the grandchildren were 10 and 8 and 7, they used to play with him and talk to him in language. I had to give him to those kids so they could teach him how to speak you know, boys to boys, kids to kids. I had to tell them 'here you take him around, show him games and things'. He didn't trust anybody yet, so I had to trust my grandchildren with him."
Arrernte elder Margaret Kemarre Turner told the inquiry Indigenous children are raised by all members of a community, not just their biological relatives.
She argues kinship care should be looked at more closely when considering where to place vulnerable youngsters.
Ms Turner says once a person leaves a community, it's very difficult for them to rejoin.
"His learning was really cut short. He didn't learn the things that he could've been taught by his parents. All those teachings were taught by other people or non-Aboriginal people when he got taken away. And all those - it's very hard to bring back a child, a young girl or a young teenage boy to come back to be taught in the way that they should've been taught when they were together in their family."
Teacher Kumalie Riley says many families have no knowledge of where their loved ones are.
"It has happened many times. (You feel) powerless and also a lot of families have taken to drinking and they're still crying for their children, and their children haven't come back for many, many years. (They're) still suffering, even right through to this day, to the welfare department now. The welfare department now is still taking away children, away without consulting us right to this day. It's about time - we need to get together and talk, they need to come and talk to the family. Let's keep our children with us. That's what the system needs to understand."
The Royal Commission will finish hearings in Alice Springs in early June, and will then move to Darwin.
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