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National Aboriginal and Islander Children's Day

Save the Children Australia will join with Aboriginal community controlled organisations to mark National Aboriginal and Islander Children's Day on August 4, 2011. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander are often among the most disadvantaged and vulnerable in Australia.

young people at the Kids program in Kununurra

Some facts

  • Around 64 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are enrolled in early childhood education programs in the year before schooling, compared with 70 per cent of all Australian children

  • In 2007, less than 43 percent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander17 year olds attended secondary school

  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are six times more likely to be the subject of a Child Protection substantiation than other children.  

Our Programs

Many of our programs around the country aim to turn this around. In early childhood care and development, adolescent non formal education, access to education and child protection our programs work closely with children, families and community groups to improve learning and development outcomes. We work in around 100 communities across Australia, many of them in regional and remote areas and urban locations with large Aboriginal populations. Find out more about our Australian programs.

Our Partners

Aboriginal community controlled organizations are key to our work. We work with locally based partners and Traditional Owner organizations across the country to improve services for children and build capacity. One of our key partners is the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care.

Our Reconciliation Action Plan

In May 2011, Save the Children adopted its first Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), an organisation-wide strategy to promote reconciliation and improve our work to ensure the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are realised. The RAP was an exciting step forward for Save the Children, and the result of important consultation involving Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander staff, external stakeholders and staff across the organisation. Our teams came together throughout 2010 and 2011 to reflect on relationships, respect and opportunities and develop a shared vision for reconciliation.