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May 14th, 2013 
Maurie Japarta Ryan was taken from his family at age three. Picture: Elise Derwin
Source: News Limited
CALLS by Northern Territory Chief Minister Adam Giles for neglected Aboriginal children to be adopted into safe homes has met with both strong support and bitter personal recrimination.
Mr Giles, an indigenous man, told News Limited that fears of another Stolen Generation had seen Aboriginal children left to wander, sniffing petrol, becoming sexualised and abused.
The NT Children’s Commissioner, Howard Bath, agreed that historical fears of a Stolen Generation had seen hundreds of Aboriginal children in the Territory left abandoned.
“We have an absurdly high threshold for intervention,” Dr Bath said.
“Children who in any other jurisdiction would come under the purview of child protection authorities don’t in the Northern Territory, unless their situation is very extreme.
“There is no doubt that concern about undue removal of kids plays its role, but one of the key issues is the sheer lack of services and foster places.”
But Maurie Japarta Ryan, the new chairman of the Central Land Council and former chair of the NT Stolen Generations, lacerated Mr Giles’ plan, accusing him of being an indigenous man who lacked culture.
Mr Ryan, 64, was removed from his parents and taken to Croker Island at the age of three and never saw them again.
“What Giles doesn’t understand is the integral parts of culture,” Mr Ryan said. “You can talk about neglect by parents, but most Aboriginal children have other parents.
“Like me, I have three other mothers. There’s no such thing as an orphan in Aboriginal society.
“Adam doesn’t understand culture. What does he want, another Stolen Generation?”
Mr Giles told News Limited that any adoption “needs to be negotiated (with biological parents), but there has to be a point in time where you take the necessary steps to protect children.”
Deputy Chief Minister Dave Tollner supported Mr Giles, arguing that the foster home placements were a revolving door and that Aboriginal children needed permanent, loving homes.
But adoption would require legal consent from both parents, even if they were imprisoned or rendered incapable of consenting due to alcohol issues.
As it stands, the NT’s Care and Protection of Children Act requires that an Aboriginal child in need of care should first be placed it with a family member, an Aboriginal person in the community, or another Aboriginal person.
The last and least-favoured option is to place the child with a white family.
Dr Bath said that should change to reflect that the child’s wellbeing was the primary option.
“We are talking about hundreds of kids being labeled neglected,” said Dr Bath. “Their developmental prospects are lousy.
“What’s happening is they’re being identified, but not being serviced by our system because we have not made an investment in prevention and ameliorative services for the families.
He said adoption could work in some cases but the numbers of neglected children in the Territory were too great to be dealt with by adoption.
“I walk around the streets of Tennant Creek, Katherine and Darwin, and your heart breaks,” he said. “You see that kids that should be protected and aren’t being protected.
“My response to Minister Giles is I share the anguish.”
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