SNAICC Newsletter

By Tina Quitadamo (née Couzens), a Kirraewurrung/Gundjitmara woman

As you navigate your way through your life-long learning, I write to help you understand that my son has fundamental human rights, mandating that his well-being and cultural identity is not denied. Along with his family, extended family and language group, I have placed my trust in you to ‘grow him up culture strong’.

So let me tell you how I perceive ‘quality care’.

Similar to our Dreaming, I see quality care as an evolving, holistic, healing, educative and spiritual process that provides meaningful opportunities for personal growth. It teaches us the rules for living, caring and understanding our environment, our social relationships, the importance of our land and animals, the history of our people, learning messages from our Ancestors and much more. It helps us to realise our potential.

When you acknowledge the signi? cance of our Dreaming to the centrality of our being, you might think more carefully about how and why you read a Dreaming story to all the children in your care and why you must ensure it doesn’t become a token effort, something you need to ‘demonstrate’.

I want you to challenge the reality of ‘whiteness’ in all that you say and do to ensure you don’t just give lip-service to what working inclusively means. When was the last time you watched an Indigenous speci?c TV show, read a book by an Indigenous author, attended an Indigenous community event, listened to an Indigenous band or radio station, listened to an Indigenous leader speak, learned some Indigenous language words? If you can tick these off, does that mean your work is done in acquiring knowledge about Indigenous peoples?

Together, we can work towards minimising this reality, to close the gap between the ‘them and us’ mentality. Ask yourself, how well has the service included Indigenous perspectives in its practices, routines, environments, philosophies and policies? Have you sought advice from our local Indigenous Elders? I can help you here, but you must be willing to do it. I don’t remember being asked to be involved in the service’s decision-making processes. I can only hope that assumptions were not made about my literacy, language capabilities and socio-economic status that I don’t understand or care about such things.

Of course I care – how you care for and teach my son will leave an indelible imprint on his sense of self.

Please involve me and my family in decision-making from the outset, not after the fact. We just have to ? nd a way to understand each other’s language. Tell me, how does making boomerangs, didgeridoos and dot paintings contribute to you relating to him, nurturing and affirming his cultural identity? How does this inform you of all there is to know about him, his strengths, abilities, heritage, family, community, language, interactions, kinship obligations and spirituality? Please do not classify my son as disadvantaged the minute he steps through the door. Rather, look to and build on his strengths and provide culturally relevant learning opportunities for him to work on any areas of need.

Draw upon research by Australian Indigenous researchers – I can’t see how it is relevant for my child when the research is based on European countries. Th e employment of Indigenous carers is important to my family and me. We would like to drop him off one day and see Indigenous carers working alongside non-indigenous carers as equals, caring for children in a mutually respectful way. How well you enact these things will determine how I recommend your service to others.

I want to thank you for remembering to put his coat on outside on cooler days, for sending me home photos, for providing healthy meals, for carefully applying a band aid to a ‘barely there’ sore on his thumb.

I thank you for washing his clothes when he squashed food all over them andfor scribbling down his sleep and nappy times for me. I thank you for telling me who he plays with and of the new words he attempts to say.

Please keep doing all these things you do so well, but most of all, I want you to embrace and celebrate his Aboriginality, as this celebrates him.

Yours faithfully,

An Indigenous mother

At the time of writing, Tina Quitadamo was a consultant with Network SA/ARMSU. She has recently moved to DECS, W. Adelaide Region as an Aboriginal Education Coordinator. Reprinted with permission from Reflections Autumn 2009 Issue 34 (Gowrie Aus)