The Anglicare Southern Queensland Children and Families, Residential Youth Services Cultural Support Work Team provides a cultural outlet for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in residential care programs.
The cultural support they provide is coordinated across two areas. They are leading and facilitating cultural practices and connecting children and young people to community organisations.
Examples of Cultural Practice
The team facilitates cultural practices ranging from organised activities to informal and casual approaches, including group and one-on-one engagement. Some examples of activities include making and teaching young people to throw boomerangs, smoking ceremonies, yoga, and monthly art workshops.
The team emphasises the importance of relaxed methods of engaging in culture, from yarning circles to taking young people out for bushwalks. They also use cultural practices to encourage young people to individually express what being Indigenous means to them.
As the care situations of young people change, the team connects them with community groups to allow for continuity of cultural support. The Logan-based Murrigunyah Family and Cultural Healing Centre is an important group that Anglicare connects with to provide community connection and support for young girls, in particular. Other groups include the Beenleigh Elders, Ganyjuu Family Support Service, the Munanjali Corporation and the Preston Campbell Foundation.
Importance of Cultural Identity
Our team also facilitates the development of close and open relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. These support groups aim to strengthen and build their cultural identity and community ties for life after residential care.
As a secondary function, the team helps guide Anglicare employees in the best ways to support the cultural needs of young people in care. This is achieved through the development of cultural support plans. The main goal of these plans is to assist other Anglicare staff to identify what’s appropriate in connecting young people to Country.
The team also encourages and facilitates staff involvement in cultural events such as NAIDOC week.
The central motivation for the team is to help young people develop an identity. Additionally, to develop a sense of purpose and pride within themselves.