Note. The term “parents” is used inclusively throughout this article to refer to all caregivers and acknowledges the diversity of family structures in Aboriginal culture.
A new Aboriginal parenting program is being co-designed in Perth, promising to deliver culturally safe and trauma-informed support that will centre the voices of families and celebrate the strengths of Aboriginal parenting traditions.
This project at The Kids Research Institute Australia is funded by the Australian Research Council and supported by Embrace, a research collaboration focussed on the mental health of children and young people. The project team is working alongside Aboriginal Elders and parents to build the program from the ground up. Advisory groups have been formed, with meetings taking place this month to identify what parenting supports are needed. A pilot involving 50 Aboriginal families is scheduled for 2026.
The Kids Research Institute Australia Aboriginal project officer Rebeka Morrison said there is a lack of trauma-informed parenting programs for Aboriginal parents in Australia.
Ms Morrison, a Bibbulman and Yued Noongar woman, said the absence of culturally-safe programs reflects a need for further research into parenting support for Aboriginal people.
A study published in the Medical Journal of Australia found that of more than 15,000 participants in national parenting programs, only 93 were Aboriginal people.
“Aboriginal parenting programs that do exist have been adapted from Eurocentric models of caregiving, because that’s what the research has historically been focused on,” Ms Morrison said.
“We’re not trying to adapt a Western program. We’re doing it from culture first. We’re listening to mob from the start to make sure it is safe. It’s from mob, for mob.”
Rebeka Morrison
Ms Morrison said the program will use stories specific to each Aboriginal tribe to share traditional parenting strategies with parents.
“I hope the program will bring generations together to create networks of support for Aboriginal parents,” she said.
WA Government-run parenting support services that are Aboriginal-specific are largely crisis-focused and target families with children at risk of entering out-of-home care.
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 43 per cent of children in out-of-home care are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
“There is such a high number of our kids in the out-of-home care system, and so some parents won’t go near government services because they’re scared their kids will be taken away,” she said.
“We want to make it safe for parents to get help with parenting and feel proud of what they can do.” Ms Morrison said.
University of Newcastle cultural capability partner and Ngarabal man Jake MacDonald agrees deficit-based models don’t work for Aboriginal parents.
He developed a strengths-based parenting program for Aboriginal fathers on Darkinjung Country in NSW called the biya yadha gudjagang yadha: Healthy Dads Healthy Mob program.
“We didn’t want to focus on the deficits that often get rolled out in reports or health data,” he said. “We have strengths that are different from non-Aboriginal men, and we wanted to highlight them.”
Through co-design with Aboriginal fathers, one key strength identified was the importance of culture in protecting wellbeing.
“The role of passing down cultural knowledge from dads to kids and what that does for wellbeing, is a strength you don’t often see in Western parenting programs,” Mr MacDonald said.
University of Queensland Associate Professor and Parenting and Family Support Centre deputy director Karen Turner said adapting existing programs can be a more efficient approach to building new programs.
Dr Turner co-authored the Triple P – Positive Parenting Program, a mainstream parenting framework, and between 2014 and 2019 she worked with Aboriginal communities in remote WA to tailor it to local needs.
“The cultural wisdom in communities should definitely guide parenting support,” she said. “But if an existing program already exists, tailoring it can save time and still deliver impact.”
Despite differences in program development, experts agree they must be tailored to the specific needs of each community.
“A one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work,” Mr MacDonald said. “Each community has its own cultural nuances, protocols, and experiences of colonisation, and all of these things make communities unique.”
Ms Morrison agreed: “We won’t be taking Noongar stories up north; each community has their own stories.”