The West Australian Government has announced the state's pilot Aboriginal Family Led Decision Making program will be extended until June, 2024.
An additional $1.2 million has been committed to the pilot, funding which will enable Aboriginal corporations to continue delivering community services in Mirrabooka and the Midwest-Gascoyne region.
Under the pilot, Perth's Wungening Aboriginal Corporation and Geraldton's Streetwork Aboriginal Corporation will continue offering pre-birth planning, intensive family support and reunification services.
Wungening Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Daniel Morrison said the program was having a positive impact on Indigenous families.
"The extension of the Family Led Decision Making pilot project in Mirrabooka is a welcome announcement from the State Government," he said.
"Already in the first year of operation we have been able to support 48 individuals and 66 family members working with the Department of Communities.
"This funding has enabled us to guide and advocate on behalf of families, in order to empower them to have greater input into decisions regarding their children."
The Wungening-led delivery of the pilot program currently supports nine families in Mirrabooka, one of Wungering's 14 community facilities across Perth.
Commonly known as Streeties, Geraldton's Streetwork Aboriginal Corporation will continue to deliver the program in the Midwest-Gascoyne region.
Streeties chief executive Chloe Collard said families that have participated in the first year of the pilot felt their voices had been heard.
"It's been a great opportunity to implement the AFLDM in our region, particularly given the model is really quite unique and gives a voice to families in a way that they haven't had for a long time," she said.
"We've been able to see some real shift in terms of what families experience when they are dealing with the department or when they're trying to work through the planning around whatever safety concerns exist for that family."
Having worked with 12 families in the Midwest-Gascoyne region during the first year of the pilot, Ms Collard said she was hopeful up to 50 additional families would be able to access support over the next two years.
"We've had a couple of family meetings and the feedback from those meetings and from those families have been quite profound," she said.
"By receiving this extension, it means that a lot of other families will have the opportunity to start to feel heard as part of the process."
WA Child Protection Minister Simone McGurk said family-led decision making was delivering positive outcomes for Indigenous families.
"Having independent Aboriginal convenors to support families at risk of child protection intervention, or those working towards their children returning safely home, is helping build greater trust and connection between families and child protection staff," she said.
The AFLDM pilot aims to address the overrepresentation of Aboriginal youth in the child protection system by enlisting independent Aboriginal convenors to facilitate a culturally appropriate process to support Aboriginal families.
In the 12 months to June 30, 2022, there was a 3.3 per cent reduction in the number of First Nations children in care in Western Australia.