Social disadvantage underpins children's poor health
The impact of death, separation and divorce is having a profound impact on the lives of Aboriginal children.
Results from the WA Aboriginal Child Health Survey show that 6% of children under three years of age and 20% of teenagers under 17 are being cared for by someone other than their parents.
Professor Steve Zubrick from the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research said the family structures were under pressure, much of it as a legacy of the stolen generations.
"Some 35% of Aboriginal children in this state are living in households where a carer or the carer's parent (eg grandparent) had been forcibly removed from their natural family.
"Another very significant issue is the number of Aboriginal families with
children under 18 where the mother has died. The rate is high and the
effects of that are very far reaching.
"The extended family structure in many Aboriginal homes is a very important safety mechanism for these children, but the overall impact of loss and separation is quite profound."
Professor Zubrick said the rapid loss of language and culture was very worrying, and was particularly rapid in areas of moderate isolation. Intergenerational language loss appears to be in the order of 20%.
"Unless urgent measures are taken to preserve, document and teach these languages, then there's a real possibility that within a very short time they will be lost to Aboriginal people and the world."
Professor Zubrick said family arrangements varied markedly between urban and more isolated regions.
"In this survey we have challenged and reworked the definitions of isolation. For example an Aboriginal child living in Halls Creek and one living 120 kilometres away in Yilyili have marked differences in culture, lifestyle and access to services.
"This has particularly strong implications when you consider that government services don't make these distinctions and funding formulas are often applied universally despite the differences in need."
Over one third of Aboriginal children live in the Perth region whereas just under 10% of children live in areas of extreme isolation.