State Government awards South West Aboriginal Medical Service contract to allow Out of Home Care services

The South West Aboriginal Medical Service has been awarded a grant by the State Government to provide children’s Out of Home Care. This makes SWAMS one of five new Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations which will now be able to deliver services across the State. The program will allow SWAMS to provide care to children at risk of harm and/or abuse, with the Department of Communities acknowledging that an ACCO would be the best fit for culturally safe care for Aboriginal children out of home. Out of Home Care refers to care arrangements made for children outside of their own family home including foster care. SWAMS CEO Lesley Nelson said the decision would benefit the Indigenous community. “SWAMS is best positioned within the Aboriginal community, making family or kinship care options more suitable,” she said. This development comes after the Department of Communities set out a goal to “ensure all Aboriginal children in Out of Home Care in WA live with family or are in care arrangements provided by Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations”. Ms Nelson said the work SWAMS would be able to do with the grant would change lives. “This is a great opportunity for our Aboriginal children to have the best start in life possible under the circumstances,” she said. “We will now see firsthand how Aboriginal community and families come together to ensure that our children and young people feel their culture and identity is respected. “We look forward to increasing culturally appropriate capacity within our communities and families in the South West, to nurture our Aboriginal children and young people so they can achieve their aspirations.”