Understanding the Context

Australia is a multicultural country that is home to diverse cultures and languages. The two key family units in Australia are indigenous (aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families) and immigrants/refugee families, both of which are diverse communities and cannot ever be considered homogenous groups. In relation to First Nations families, the experience of the Stolen Generation is a key cultural context in which one can understand this community: based on the statistics published by AIHW (2021), there were 33,600 survivors from the Stolen Generation alive in 2018-19 with an estimated number of 142,200 Indigenous adults being descendants of this group. Grace and Menzie (2022) discuss how the experience of this group should be analyzed within the framework of cultural hegemony – it is not enough to say that the colonial policies removed indigenous children, they also oppressed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and language.

The cultural context of an immigrant and refugee family involves elements such as displacement, resettlement and negotiating their identities between heritage culture and the new context. According to Cologon and Hayden (2017), children in fragile contexts who had suffered from conflict and/or displacement prior to resettlement need to be provided with early childhood contexts which acknowledge their experiences as opposed to seeing resettlement as a process which starts from scratch. The Humanitarian Program in Australia remains fixed at 20,000 for 2025–26 (Department of Home Affairs, 2026). On a global scale, 39% of those under UNHCR's mandate are children (UNHCR, 2026).

Ecological Systems Theory by Bronfenbrenner (1979, as cited in Grace & Baird, 2022) is relevant: for First Nations children, the systems will involve connection to Country and kinship, for refugee children, systems will involve cultural community and settlement services – cultural identity cannot be separated from the environment the children grow up in. This is consistent with McMahon and Grace (2022), who view family as the primary context of development, which means that identity and language are initially shaped by the family and then encountered by early childhood services. Importantly, Wong et al. (2017) remind us that the research and practice on families should be done with families, not about families, meaning that families are offered real chances to speak about their concerns.

Both of these families demonstrate Australia's diverse reality that is dynamic and uneven. First Nations cultural context can be seen as an active negotiation with the policy system, which is struggling to overcome its hegemonic assumptions (Grace & Menzie, 2022), and refugee experience is incredibly different depending on the origin and route, which means that the use of the multicultural approach is a way of reducing these experiences to one category.

Impact on Children and Families

 

With First Nations children, the effects of Stolen Generations intergenerationally can be seen in a reduced sense of trust towards care systems, disrupted cultural continuity (language, kinship, connection to Country), and an increased wariness of systems associated with child removals, even potentially including early childhood services themselves (Grace & Menzie, 2022). With refugee and migrant children, Cologon and Hayden (2017) have pointed out that prior experience of insecure or emergency contexts can impact attachment security, trust, and emotional regulation, and separation of the family adds to this problem: one third of Australian refugees report having been separated from their family through force, with over half still concerned about the safety of their family abroad (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2025), hence many refugee children have their families facing continuing transnational stress on top of their new settlement context. Implications for early childhood services include creating genuine cultural safety (not only diversity and inclusion policies) and being aware that gaining the trust of First Nations families and refugee families will have to happen deliberately because of past experiences, as well as the fact that some "settlement in" behaviour could be a response to previous stress.

Social Policy and Australian Responses

The EYLF v2.0 highlights identity, belonging, and equity which include the need to have languages and cultures included in everyday practice rather than being included as an event here and there. Quality Area 6 in the NQF focuses on respectful relationships with families which is vital for cultural inclusiveness. The Closing the Gap and Child Placement Principle initiatives have their own priorities and priority placements for the First Nations’ children; it should be noted, however, that despite the existence of all sorts of policies and efforts, Indigenous children remain overrepresented at every stage of child protection (AIHW, 2025) while the ‘gap within the gap’ still exists (Grace & Menzie, 2022). The Humanitarian Program and Multicultural/Settlement Policies help migrant families.

Cultural inclusion can become quite superficial when it only includes flags, food, and festivals.

Strategies for Practice

 

  1. Build genuine partnerships — invite families to share cultural knowledge rather than assuming what they value (Wong et al., 2017).
  2. Support home languages — through songs, books and bilingual resources or interpreters.
  3. Embed First Nations perspectives respectfully — throughout curriculum, not restricted to special events.
  4. Use culturally responsive resources — critically examined for accurate, non-stereotyped representation.
  5. Create culturally safe environments — challenging discriminatory language and positioning difference as strength.

Community and Professional Partnerships

 

  • SNAICC - National Voice for our Children - peak body promoting the welfare of Aboriginal children and culturally safe practices.
  • Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations - local and culturally governed services for families and children.
  • Settlement Services International / local refugee and migrant resource centers - providing assistance to refugee and immigrant families in settling.
  • Foundation House (Victorian Foundation for Survivors of Torture) - specialized assistance in dealing with trauma experienced by refugees.
  • Bicultural workers/interpreters - help in communication and cultural mediation.

Resources for Educators and Children

Programs: Narragunnawali for embedding reconciliation; SNAICC for Indigenous children’s education resources; SBS Learn for diversity resources; Raising Children Network for culturally diverse families.

Storybooks (0-5 years): Welcome to Country (Murphy & Kennedy); The Family Book (Parr); My Two Blankets (Kobald & Blackwood); Sorry Day (Coleman), gradually introducing the history of Stolen Generations.

Videos: Little J & Big Cuz (NITV); Multicultural episodes of Play School; Diversity episodes of Sesame Street; SBS Learn children’s resources.

These resources foster empathy by showcasing cultural identity with pride, knowledge from correct historical and contemporary context, and resilience by reflecting the identity of children themselves with dignity. Lack of resources about the Stolen Generations in very young children, as well as those books can only be conversation starters and not representations of the whole culture.

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