Historic $350m NSW funding boost helps launch new Aboriginal family program to help children ‘tell their own stories’

The program aims to prevent Indigenous children from losing their voice or identity by providing families with trauma-informed and culturally safe supports. Photograph: Rick Rycroft/AP View image in fullscreen The program aims to prevent Indigenous children from losing their voice or identity by providing families with trauma-informed and culturally safe supports. Photograph: Rick Rycroft/AP Historic $350m NSW funding boost helps launch new Aboriginal family program to help children ‘tell their own stories’ Holistic approach to care which preserves children’s identities part of Minns government reforms to broader child protection system Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast An Aboriginal family preservation program aimed at giving at-risk children space to “tell their own stories” has been launched across New South Wales after a historic investment from the state government. The program, co-designed by First Nations families, Aboriginal Community-Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) and the NSW government, aims to reduce the overrepresentation of Indigenous children in out-of-home care through a holistic approach to child and family protection. On Tuesday, the NSW government distributed $350m to 25 ACCOs across the state as part of the Minns Labor government’s broader $900m investment in a redesigned family preservation service system. The money will also fund a further 30 non-government organisations to support vulnerable families. The community laundry working to reduce heart disease in the Northern Territory Read more At Coffs Harbour on the mid-north coast, Abcare, an Aboriginal family support service, has already started seeing success. As part of their program, Abcare’s healing centre (Bimirr Darrundaygy) gives children access to trauma-informed and culturally safe support, including psychologists, a registered nurse and narrative therapists who specialise in helping children to “re-author” their stories. View image in fullscreen Jack Archibald, a narrative therapist at Abcare Jack Archibald, a Kamilaroi and Wiradjuri man and a narrative therapist at Abcare, said that he had worked with a nine-year-old boy, Blake*, who had been diagnosed with level 2 autism and lived with his mother and young brother, who has level 3 autism. Archibald said before accessing the program, the boy and his family had suffered through domestic violence and that Blake “struggled to express his story in words” – but was able to work with him through drawing. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email “Some of the things that came up within his drawings were incredible,” he said. “The things that he held inside of his mind, he must’ve been holding on for so long. “We started breaking it down in a narrative way and building a new story out of his drawings.” He said Blake was now thriving, trying new things and reaching goals at school. “I’ve been able to advocate with a psychologist, so he’s