Long Yarn Short by Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts

Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve

This impassioned book by Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts, now the ACT’s Commissioner for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People, alerts us to what needs to be done to correct/replace the failed system, the out-of-home care for Aboriginal children, that now results in additional trauma and heartache for those at its mercy.

The factor making this such a powerful document is that it has been written by a victim of the system. At the age of ten, she was forcefully removed from her loving father by 12 policemen and a caseworker. Vanessa managed to survive in the following years and emerged from the dubious foster care environment at the age of 18. She subsequently acquired degrees in law and social work. Her book not only describes the current system of child protection but offers a solution that hopefully will be adopted. The State cannot be a parent to the child, it belongs in its community within its family.

The assessment of the situation now is unflinching and presents irrefutable arguments as to how damaging it is to both parent and child. It engenders fear and mistrust. She asks whether a culture should be built with gentleness, love and justice or rage, demands, and accountability? Some urban communities seem to be more incensed by damage to property than the welfare of children.

Colonisation, the root of the abuse, led to the Stolen Generations which had the lasting effect of generational trauma. The missions and schools, which attempted assimilation and suppression of their ancient culture, are now replaced by the foster care system. Vanessa admits some were caring and kind but most were not. The aim was to pay off the mortgage with the allowances in some cases.  None were aboriginal, so ignorant of what culture had been wrenched from her life.

While this government-run parenting must be abolished, she suggests several policies that would perhaps even reduce the horrific numbers of First Nations children in custody. Poverty is rife and support not punishment is essential. Support from a case worker not removal would create a better environment too.

Vanessa herself acknowledges that families, including her own, have major problems with substance abuse. Her mother battled mental illness and her father, kind and gentle, had a drinking problem, but both were loving parents.  In spite of the government regarding them as unsuitable, she longed to be living with them and continued to love them both.

Government needs to invest in community-based programs that give education, parenting support, mental health facilities as well as easy access to basic necessities. The term ‘neglect’ could disappear. Affordable housing and reliable social services would follow, eventually.

This first-hand account carries weight in presenting a case for the deficiencies in the out-of-home foster system. It is honest and uncompromising, and its deeply moving content is utterly persuasive in its demands to mend a seriously ineffective and cruel treatment of families.

It needs to be widely read and absorbed, particularly by policy makers. Its author is courageous in the manner in which she overcame adversity and is a shining example of the benefits of education. She sheds hope for the future in her encouraging ideas. Above all, it is a vibrant testimony to the importance of family and community to any child, but particularly the Aboriginal child who lives with the fear of being snatched by strangers to become a foster child, robbed of culture and the connections in community.

Long Yarn Short

[2024]

by Vanessa Turnbull-Roberts

UQP

ISBN 978 07022 6868 7

$34.99; 240pp

 

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