On August 4th we celebrated National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day (Children’s Day).
Children’s Day is a time Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and communities, and all Australians, celebrate the strengths and culture of our children.
It is an opportunity for us to show our support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, as well as learn about the crucial impact that culture, family and community play in the life of every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child.
In communities throughout Australia this special day has been celebrated with activities such as cultural events, open days, arts and crafts, storytelling, face painting, concerts, morning teas and community barbecues.
Children’s Day has been run annually since 1988 and it is the initiative of SNAICC – National Voice for our Children.
Name: Barry McGrady.
Mob: Gomeroi and Gamilaraay.
Nickname: Bazz, Bazzy, big bad bazza.
Favourite take away meal: KFC- Zinger and popcorn combo box.
Favourite home-made meal: Making homemade Pizza.
Favourite Quote: Dream, Believe, Achieve. If you have a dream that you can do, you can believe in that dream and if you continue to believe in it you will achieve that dream.
How did you end up in your at Allambi? I had been working for the Department of Education at a Behavioural School in Sydney for seven years, working with kids with autism and other kids that aren’t able to be in a mainstream class. I applied to work for Allambi as a youth worker at first, then went through all the induction process. When coming into the Youth Worker roles I got notified that there was a new job as a Cultural Support Officer, so I came in to do that interview and then that interview was successful and I have been in my role for the last three and a half years.
What does your work look like on a daily basis? Day-to-day work can change and can start with me reviewing cultural support plans then calling family, extended family, community organisations, mentoring groups. Any aboriginal specific programmes that are running the community I usually have lots conversations with. A lot of emails during the day, as well as creating programmes for our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children we care for, creating cultural camps and creating mentoring programmes, updating cultural awareness training for youth workers, caseworkers, case managers, foster carers up to the CEO. Always seeing if there are any programmes that other organisations are running to get our young boys and girls involved in. Lots of consults with care teams and other organisations that have some of our clients’ siblings to see how we can keep them connected to their culture, to the community and family. As well as checking in with our young boys and girls and doing mentoring with them if they need to connect with myself or Cass.
How do you drive culture within our organisation? For me Culture is family, and family is Culture, it goes back to the Kinship system and how everyone plays a part and a role in the development of a child and a young person, as well as our staff development. I use the Kinship system in a lot of work with the organisation. The staff’s role is always in the centre, and for staff to gain knowledge and support they need to know who can they contact, whose role is what and how their roles can support the development of our staff. But the practical things I do is a lot of talking. Talking with all departments about culture, having a cultural perspective within our organisation, making sure that we don't miss any gaps when working with our boys and girls, our families and in the community, making sure that we have an awareness of our rich history, understanding our past and how the past affects our children and parents in our community today, and how we can make meaningful change for our boys and girls so that they can thrive for things they want.
Why is it important to be a role model? It's important because in Aboriginal culture you will always have a role model or a mentor, from school settings, to the rugby league field, to someone in your family (it could be an uncle). A role model for me is someone I look up to or strive to be like or to be better than. We always have a connection to someone in family, work, in the community and in sports. There will always a be a role model that a young person will look up to. I personally have a few role models. I have a sports coach who I look up to as a role model that gives me sports knowledge, I have a role model for my culture that teaches my language, I have a lot of uncles that are role models and they have many different skills and knowledge that they pass on to me and I can also pass onto others.
Can you tell us why you enjoy working for Allambi Care? It's like a second family. I have made many friends during my time here and it's been great to work with staff that want to learn about Aboriginal culture and learn how to connect, and it’s a great environment to work in and be a part of to make change to the lives of kids and families we work with.