Our Way outlines a framework for transformational change that will occur over the next 20 years, representing a long-term commitment by government and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community to work together to improve the life outcomes of vulnerable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

The Return to Country framework will guide Return to Country programs undertaken by Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations across Victoria. In the interim, it will guide the Return to Country Program Pilot to be implemented by the Gippsland and East Gippsland Aboriginal Cooperative (GEGAC) and the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA) in 2017.

The Queensland Government and Family Matters Queensland have committed to Our Way: A generational strategy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families 2017–2037. Changing Tracks is the first action plan created to realise this strategy.

This strategy builds on SNAICC reflections over the last period on whether we are most efficiently and effectively geared towards the change that we want to see. We have asked ourselves: are we achieving change? If not, why? And how can we better make a real difference to the lives of our children across Australia?

SNAICC and many of its members have been watching with concern as, around the country, a range of processes are undertaken to progress longer-term care arrangements for children. They vary in detail but have been broadly described as permanency planning measures. Some of these proposals have already taken the form of legislative changes (NSW, Vic...