Helping Families Overcome Entrenchment Through Aboriginal Ways

BOCSAR and FACSIAR data indicate over 8,000 families in NSW have experienced multi-generational interactions with DCJ across child protection, custody and corrections, youth justice, courts and housing. This highlighted the pressing need for reform to reverse the intergenerational entrenchment in DCJ systems, and the disproportionate impact it has on Aboriginal families. The design challenge was to establish a service to address the complexities of fragmented systems, and to create an Aboriginal-led system transformation for the next 50, 100 and 200 years.

One Mob One Job is an Aboriginal-led system transformation team under Transforming Aboriginal Outcomes at DCJ. The One Mob team took a place-based approach to plant the seeds of change and develop service solutions that could catalyse a system-wide transformation. Yamagigu and One Mob led an Aboriginal codesign process with frontline staff in South West Sydney to develop the FAU. The process i centres culture and relationships to overcome entrenchment while also coordinating the agencies under DCJ to wrap around the family.

The FAU stands out as a flagship service in DCJ, taking a deeply cultural approach to uplifting families to overcome multi-generational entrenchment and to changing the way a government department operates. Established in February 2025, the service has impacted over 100 individuals, and has prevented child protection reports, school disengagement and crime, while supporting families to live in a safe home. This service is not only changing the trajectory of lives, towards flourishing lives, connection and pride, but also shaping how DCJ works holistically to improve the outcomes of families in NSW.

To achieve this outcome, the FAU actively works with families who opt-in to identify their needs and goals, understand their cultural connection, kinship and support networks. Using early intervention and pro-active engagement with the family, the FAU then coordinates a single case plan across all DCJ agencies and Corrective Services that works towards the family’s priorities and goals. To ensure that the service and DCJ continue to prioritise culture and connection as central to a family’s wellbeing, One Mob has implemented a simple continuous improvement and knowledge transformation framework that seeks ideas and feedback from families working with FAU and with FAU frontline staff. The feedback, provided fortnightly to agency executives, guides policy changes and strategic decisions towards removing roadblocks and empowering families.