A proud Aboriginal woman, Amanda was born and raised on Wiradjuri land and has dedicated her life to advocating for her people.
Amanda’s passion to create a positive impact on the Aboriginal community attracted her to the role of First Nations Cultural Advisor at Lifestyle Solutions.
Image: Amanda standing on Wiradjuri country in front of the church where her grandparents were married, alongside her great uncle.
As part of the Child and Family Service Experience team, Amanda is responsible for developing and supporting cultural planning for Aboriginal children and young people living in residential and out-of-home care.
“I saw the position as an opportunity where I could make a meaningful difference on the outlook for Aboriginal youth and help give them a stronger voice,” says Amanda.
Amanda champions our cultural support training program, travelling up and down the country to deliver workshops to our teams on how we can better support Aboriginal children living in out-of-home care.
Conducting the workshops gives Amanda a wonderful opportunity to grow awareness in the cultural space and share her experiences, knowledge and stories in the hope of inspiring others to support a better future for Aboriginal children in care.
“I’m always evaluating and monitoring the process on how we can gain a deeper understanding of the children that are coming into care, to allow and guide us to have the right programs in place to meet their needs,” says Amanda.
“Loss of cultural identity is a major concern for Aboriginal children growing up in care. Our most important job for Aboriginal children is finding those missing links and connecting them back to their culture, families and communities,” says Amanda.
In the future, Amanda is working toward increasing community engagement by establishing more partnerships with Aboriginal communities and programs that support Aboriginal children and young people. She also hopes to be able to offer parenting programs that support Aboriginal parents to reconnect with their children in care.