Sorry if I got it wrong Rhosty. But my heart just breaks over all those kids I see living in conditions the RSPCA wouldn't leave a dog in and exposed to so much violence. And such loving, needy kids who crave affection and stability and take so much pleasure from the simple things other kids take for granted.
And I feel such anger towards those who would deny these kids any chance of a normal loving home.

Deborah Melville.

Foster child Deborah died in the dirt in a suburban Darwin backyard, propped against a trailer. She was suffering from a leg infection which had spread into the bone, and was visited by FACS case workers the day before she died. A FACS worker assured the child, “I am not here to take you away.” A manslaughter trial and coronial inquiry was told that Deborah probably died in excruciating pain, and that she had been unable to control her bowel and bladder in the days before her death. Because of this, her carers, Denise Reynolds and Tony Melville, put her outside to sit in the dirt. One witness told the manslaughter hearing that Reynold’s had said that “If Deborah wanted to wet and soil herself, she can go outside and do it like an animal.”

Though Deborah was living in filthy circumstances, FACS reported that she was “happy and healthy.”

Peter.

Seven week old Peter starved to death in the back of a hot car on the Stuart Highway in 2005. Peter was born to a drug using mother who’s six other children were known to FACS. In 2002, one of the children, a daughter, was taken (stolen?) and taken to Alice Springs Hospital at three months old, “haunted and looking like a bony skeleton.”
Peter at death weighed 1kg less than his birth weight, and during his brief life, There were various attempts to remove Peter from his mother’s care, but she was unco-operative, and FACS did not ask the police to forcibly remove (steal) the child.

Joy.

Joy was assessed by health workers as being ‘at risk of severe harm”, and she was one of eight teenage girls in a remote mining town who were being sexually abused by a government official. The teenager, who was born with fetal alcohol syndrome, had a long history of neglect in her aboriginal family. As early as two, she was deposited at a local health clinic because nobody was looking after her. But repeated attempts by the police to get FACS to intervene to protect Joy came to nothing.

The only thing wrong with Gary Johns perceptive article is that even he seems to accept the "Stolen Generations" myth.

Here is an article which quite plainly reveals that aboriginal children were taken by welfare officers for damned good reasons. They are still being removed from unacceptable circumstances today, and incredibly, there are aboriginal activists screaming about a "new stolen generation" instead of admitting that too aboriginal parents do not look after their kids. By even mentioning the so called "Stolen Generations" without comment, within an article concerned about the plight of aboriginal children, Johns is inadvertently perpetuating the myth.

The principle of human equality is a wonderful concept. But the reality is, that people barely out of the stone age, and who still wish to keep their stone age culture, are not going to behave the way civilised people are supposed to behave. To say that these people are equal, are able to manage their own affairs, and then give them the tight to drink alcohol, was always going to end in catastrophe.

The old way of treating aboriginal people with paternal care with administrators, who prevented the worst excesses of barbarism in aboriginal communities, was the better option. Of course there are some aboriginal people who are smart enough for full requalify with the rest of the population, but equality should mean just that. Equal rights and equal responsibilities.

Prior to the referendum which recognised all aboriginal people as equal to other Australians, those who worked the closest with aboriginal people predicted catastrophe if aboriginal people were given the right to drink alcohol. These people were condemned as "racists" even though time has proven that they were right. Banning tribal aboriginal people from drinking alcohol is the only solution. That this contradicts "Human Rights" is emblematic that something is fundamentally wrong with the whole concept of "Human Rights."

"The Australian" newspaper. Sept. 26 2002.

Lawyers claim that aborigines are coping tougher sentences but aboriginal men still make up the vast majority of killers in the Northern Territory, and aboriginal women comprise most of the victims. Aborigines account for only 24% of the population of the Northern Territory but 13 of the 15 homicide victims so far this year are aborigines. Seven of the 13 aboriginal victims were women.

The figures, obtained from NT Police, only show cases where the killers were charged and do not reveal the true extent of intra aboriginal homicide.

While the Territory is often called "the murder capitol of Australia" because so many killers are initially charged with murder, the reality is that aboriginal people are much less likely to face trial for murder. Jail statistics show that while 81% of prisoners serving time for manslaughter, or dangerous act causing death, are aboriginal, only 45% of those jailed for murder are aboriginal.

Lawyers say aborigines, unlike whites, rarely premeditate killings and there is always alcohol involved. There are also admissions of guilt and expressions of remorse. By the time that they reach the courts the charges have been reduced to manslaughter or dangerous act causing death.

Mark Jubarula Miller's case is a case in point. Miller was found responsible for the most sadistic seen in the Territory last year. Millar beat the woman so badly that pathologists were unable to ascertain which blow had actually killed her.

Justice Milldren said it was "no excuse that aboriginal society tolerates violence towards women to some degree." Miller was sentenced to 10 years, but will be out in 5 if he behaves. The Territory Prosecutor, Mr Miller, said that there could be no comparison with the series of Sydney gang rapes in which one perpetrator got 55 years but left his victim alive, and Miller, who had inflicted a bizarre sexual assault which left his victim dead.

LEGGO

Thanks for the information.

The FACS workers (referring to the above cases) should immediately be sacked. So much for looking after the welfare of children – their cases. Or is that what these children are – a number among their case loads, no care, compassion, empathy shown to any of the above children by FACS staff.

*Rest in Peace little Deborah* - we all let you down.

BIG NANNA – I also cried when I originally read about Deborah, and couldn’t believe these so-called foster parents met who’s criteria for - children at risk - to be placed in their home?

Your post-

“Justice Milldren said it was "no excuse that aboriginal society tolerates violence towards women to some degree." Miller was sentenced to 10 years, but will be out in 5 if he behaves.

There should be ZERO tolerance for violence being committed on any female – no matter what race, creed or colour.

This murderer should have been sentenced to 30 years minimum!

The Territory Prosecutor Mr Miller states “ there could be no comparison with the series of Sydney gang rapes in which one perpetrator got 55 years but left his victim alive, and Miller, who had inflicted a bizarre sexual assault which left his victim dead”.

I guess there is little difference – to him – in determining sentencing, except for the fact that maybe this murderer was an aboriginal, so he goes for the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Taxpayers dollars pay aboriginal agencies $30B per annum – where are the funds going?
contd

Why aren’t all aboriginal children attending school daily?

Why aren’t children being fed properly nor receiving satisfactory health services?

Why doesn’t the Government ban all alcohol? If they not working, tax dollars pay welfare benefits, money going on grog, we get the violence factor again, children not being fed – no money for food, etc.

If children are in abusive homes – they should be taken away. This does not make it a “stolen child”, it takes a child out of harm from being beaten, abused or violated.