Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People

CREATE Foundation recognises First Nations peoples as the traditional owners of Australia, including its lands and waterways. CREATE supports self-determination for First Nations peoples, including justice, truth-telling and equity.

CREATE respects the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to maintain culture and to lead decisions that affect their lives, families and communities. CREATE acknowledges the historical, current and continued impacts of colonisation, racism and intergenerational trauma, resulting in the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in care. As an ally, CREATE is deeply committed to supporting self-determined approaches to addressing the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, designed and delivered by First Nations communities and organisations in culturally rich ways.

CREATE is committed to listening deeply to the voices of First Nations children, young people, families and communities, and the services that support them. CREATE is committed to engaging in continuous listening, learning and reflection around how we ensure our programs and advocacy are culturally safe and culturally informed, how we can foster a safe and inclusive organisational culture that embraces the cultural perspectives of First Nations staff, and how we can support major transformation of systems and services towards Aboriginal-led and self-determined systems, responses and practices.

To guide us in this process, we will be developing a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) in collaboration with Reconciliation Australia and other First Nations partners. We believe that a RAP will provide a framework to truly understand how we are going in acting on our commitments, addressing any biases or blind spots, and working to be a culturally safe place for kids and their communities.