VACCA staff have joined more than 1600 delegates on Larrakia Country in the Northern Territory for the 10th National SNAICC Conference.
The 3-day conference provides an opportunity for the sector to gather and share expertise and knowledge to support safer, culturally strong and connected Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families. The 2023 theme Voices at the Top captures where we are in this moment of time - our ability to create opportunities for our voices to be heard, in sharing our stories and by taking action.
In her opening address VACCA CEO and SNAICC Chairperson Muriel Bamblett reminded delegates of the opportunity that lies before them. “This moment in time feels like a golden moment… though we can’t rest. We need to seize this moment, to drive our priorities, and push that change. Right now the momentum is here.”
“Our authority and grounding to do the work that we do comes from culture, and this is our greatest strength. No other culture can say they have over 60,000 years of successfully raising children behind them. Our little ones are the only children in the world who can stand on a legacy as strong, resilient, and proud as this,” Mrs Bamblett continued.
“The movement for change has always been driven by the powerful voices and experiences of our children and young people, families, and communities. This is our driving force. It is our mission to amplify their voices to influence and affect real change to systems that were designed without us.
You will hear throughout this conference that the evidence is in – placing Aboriginal children at the centre with community-controlled services as the supports, makes the absolute difference and we do have the answers.”
VACCA staff travelling to the conference will present across all 3 days, giving them an incredible platform to share with other delegates their work, experience, and learnings.
VACCA’s Aboriginal Children’s Healing Team (ACHT) will share insights into their culturally-led therapeutic work, which supports the healing journey of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Other day one highlights include a presentation from the team leading the innovative Aboriginal-Led Case Conferencing (ALCC) model, and VACCA’s Rainbow Tick journey, which documents how VACCA has achieved Rainbow Tick accreditation.
More insights follow on days two and three. The team supporting VACCA’s Playgroups for Aboriginal children and families will detail the critical importance of early intervention, culturally informed facilitation, and cultural activities to support positive outcomes for Aboriginal children, parents and carers.
Yarning about healthy respectful relationships with young mob is at the heart of VACCA’s Deadly Lovin’ program, which uses both traditional and contemporary cultural wisdom to support the next generation with making good choices in their intimate partner relationships.
VACCA’s Nugel team will share how Community Protecting Boorais, a groundbreaking expansion of the Nugel program, are shifting the language and culture of child protection practice by being centered in culture, self-determination and human rights.
As we step towards a time when our voices may finally start to be heard, we acknowledge that recent progress within the sector would not possible without the work being done on the ground, and we’re so proud to be sharing some of this incredible work at SNAICC ’23.