Children in out of home care face unique challenges in the education system, that at times can impact on their educational outcomes and well-being. The Children in Care service was developed in 2020 as a systems improvement response to improve outcomes for children in the care system.

In this session we will tell you more about the service by sharing some of our trauma-informed approaches with schools and how we work collaboratively with the Department for Child Protection around creating system level change. Collaboration lies at the heart of our approach.

We advocate that education is a priority for disengaged students and that schools can be a place of safety and belonging. Our advocacy work with schools and within policy in the Department for Education has resulted in children in care being a priority for the department. Last year we increased the visibility of at least 443 students in care that were referred to the service.

Participants will come away with some insights regarding how to create change in schools to support children in care, moving from a deficit-based model to one that fosters resilience, child-centred practice and positive educational outcomes.

In Northern Territory schools there is a very high incidence
of domestic and family violence and child sexual abuse and an urgent need to address this issue. Adopting a standardised protective behaviours curriculum from another state will not be as effective for the particular needs of the NT. According to the Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence Reduction Framework 2018-2028: Safe, Respected and Free from Violence (Northern Territory Government, 2018) the Northern Territory has the highest rates of domestic, family and sexual violence in Australia with Northern Territory Police and emergency service responders attending to more than 61 incidents on a typical day (2018, p 12). Furthermore, Brown, Homan, Simpson & Lueng (2021) show that “Aboriginal women in the Northern Territory
experience the highest rates of victimisation of violence in the world, overrepresented as victims of DFVS and are hospitalised at 40 times the rate of non-Indigenous women due to
assault” (2021, p 11).

Early intervention education is a crucial step to bring about change in behavioural patterns in family and domestic violence. Young children learning to respect their bodies and each other and recognising what behaviours are unsafe are important foundational attitudes in countering family and domestic violence later on (Richards, 2011). There is clear evidence that young boys bought up in violent households are more likely to become adult perpetrators of family violence themselves, so changing attitudes around gender roles early matters (Richards, 2011)

To address the issue of family and domestic violence and child sexual abuse the researchers are evaluating the teaching of a culturally safe unit of work with a rights-based approach to protective behaviours in a socially disadvantaged, and culturally and linguistically diverse primary school in Darwin, the Northern Territory, begun in 2023. They are currently analysing the pilot data from the transition class (5-year-olds in their first year of school) already collected. This includes children's artwork depicting when they feel safe and when they don't, where in their bodies they feel fear, and family/care giver attitudes to safety and family and domestic violence. Engaging the community is a key part of implementation of this rights-based protective behaviours unit. A local Aboriginal man from the community works with the community and parents to raise awareness of domestic and family abuse and child sexual abuse in a non-threatening way. Community outreach days are held at the school, based on sporting activities the whole family can participate in.

The poor educational outcomes of children in Out of Home Care (OOHC) have been of great concern both nationally and internationally for several years. Local and overseas research has consistently revealed that low academic achievements, poor school attendance, higher rates of school suspension, higher rates of early school dropout and poor representation in post school education pathways are reflective of these students worldwide. Academically, students in OOHC, display some of the lowest levels of educational attainment, particularly in literacy and numeracy. These students are more likely to repeat a school grade, be enrolled in special educational needs programs and change schools more often, compared with their non-OOHC peers.
According to the most recent Australian Institute of Health and Welfare figures available, Australia has more than 60,000 children placed on care and protection orders. Although not all these children are of school age, 64 % of this figure does, however, represent children between the ages of 5 – 17 years.
Trauma-informed guidelines, implemented by both education sector policy makers and schools would go a long way with assisting the implementation of trauma-informed practices into school settings for students affected by complex trauma. A supportive trauma-informed school environment has the potential to support the academic, social and emotional needs of students in OOHC as well as students who have been the recipients of complex traumatic events.
Many Australian states are making extensive progress towards ensuring their schools are becoming trauma informed, with the complex needs of OOHC student and other trauma affected students being understood and supported through school policy recognition and staff training.
Based on an extensive thematic review of national and international literature pertaining to the poor education outcomes displayed by students in OOHC, this presentation will identify the key elements that need to be included in an effective trauma-informed education policy.