Abstract.

A framework of self-determination means not speaking on behalf of people – even as an advocate – but to create the environment and conditions for those who have been silenced to speak for themselves. This article reflects on the role of storytelling for justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families. I closely consider three stories of child removal, as told by their impacted families, and in their localised context. This article counterposes the stories that are told about them through care and protection law and related policy, and draws out the long precedent of these stories. Through the stories of impacted families, told in their own voices, it becomes clearer that the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families is a key pillar of a concerted and complex colonial project. This has implications for how people working in law come to see the power of storytelling within and outside legal institutions, and how they can do those stories justice by making space for them to be heard on their own terms.

摘要。

自决的框架意味着不代表人民说话，甚至不代表倡导者，而是为那些沉默寡言的人创造环境和条件。本文探讨了讲故事对土著和托雷斯海峡岛民儿童及其家庭的正义作用。我仔细考虑了三个有关被遣散儿童的故事，这是由他们受影响的家庭所讲述的，并且是在他们本地化的背景下进行的。本文通过护理和保护法及相关政策来反驳有关这些故事的故事，并勾勒出这些故事的悠久先例。通过用自己的声音讲述受灾家庭的故事，人们越来越清楚地看到，将原住民和托雷斯海峡岛民儿童从其家庭中带走是协调一致而复杂的殖民项目的重要支柱。