Aboriginal-led Commissioning
Giving Aboriginal people the chance to drive Aboriginal solutions and investment.
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Commissioning for better Aboriginal child and family outcomes
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island children, young people and their families continue to be over-represented across the child and family services continuum of care.
The current system:
- fails to target investment
- focuses on outputs rather than child and family outcomes
- is inflexible and fails to deliver self-determination to Aboriginal communities in addressing child and family issues.
In responding to the evidence and data, AbSec is leading an innovative approach to designing and delivering tailored child and family-centred, holistic supports together. This approach aims at delivering what’s needed as a package of supports across the continuum, not just at crisis, rather than through a programmatic design creating inflexible practice; and to achieve better outcomes for Aboriginal children, families and communities in the statutory child protection system over time.
As of 2023, 43.7% of children in out-of-home care are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, despite making up just 6% of children in New South Wales. This is of particular concern because the situation persists despite multiple investments in system review and reform.
What is commissioning?
Commissioning is the process of designing, resourcing and delivering funding for community needs, with the goal of achieving outcomes in a service or program area. It builds on traditional funding and procurement processes by looking at all the phases in a more holistic way – from the design phase through to contract management. NSW government agencies have committed to embedding the commissioning approach within their funding cycles, but it is still a fairly new way of working across these systems.
Commissioning is typically done in a top-down manner, with decisions made by the government. This can continue a cycle of disproportionate and inadequate funding to Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCOs) and a lack of resources to support our children, young people and families.
Commissioning provides for:
- Outcomes focus
- Strategic investment and value for money
- Evidence and data
- People and place-centred
- Collaboration and integration
- Improvement and innovation
What is Aboriginal-led commissioning?
Aboriginal-led commissioning, can be also referred to as community-led commissioning, and often utilises a place-based approach to funding investment. Aboriginal-led commissioning ensures that families and communities are self-empowered to determine the investment into programs and services, based on their own needs and desired outcomes.
In 2020 the AbSec Commissioning Framework was released for trialing by communities and stakeholders across New South Wales.
- Aboriginal children and families
- Cultural safety
- Co-design
- Design planning
- Implementation
- Evaluation
What are the benefits of Aboriginal-led commissioning?
A collaborative approach to service provision will give Aboriginal people the chance to drive Aboriginal solutions and investment. It allows for localised community-driven programs that address the needs of children and families. Partnerships are a crucial element of the process, to allow all stakeholders to contribute to desired outcomes and develop proposed solutions. Aboriginal children and families, as well as the organisations that represent them, are positioned to drive change based on the needs and strengths of their communities.
Commissioning projects in action!
The Aboriginal Guardianship Support Model (AGSM)
The Aboriginal Guardianship Support Model (AGSM) is the first project to trial the concept of Aboriginal-led Commissioning through the AbSec Commissioning Framework. This project aims to address issues arising from the introduction of guardianship orders. In 2014, the NSW Government introduced reforms to the child protection system to promote permanency orders, including a new form of orders known as ‘guardianship’.
Aboriginal-led Commissioning
The Aboriginal-led Commissioning project is the second project to trial the AbSec Commissioning Framework. It aims to self-empower communities with the ability to make their own decisions about service design, priorities and funding across the Aboriginal Child and Family Sector. The program has evolved significantly as a result of lessons learned, which is the core reason for the project’s flexibility.
With community expertise, leadership, and knowledge, the project moves to create opportunities for innovative solutions to the unique challenges faced by Aboriginal communities across New South Wales. Building on the success and lessons of the first trial, this project seeks to strengthen partnerships across state and local levels to support the initiative. It is working towards greater self-empowerment of our families and communities.
The project is in its establishment phase and its implementation will be revised to offer greater community leadership and self-determination across the commissioning process. The implementation will occur, in partnership with community, at trial sites in 2025.
