Jaqueline Boyle
PhD
Jackie Boyle is a White settler woman living and working on the stolen lands of the Wurundjeri People of the Kulin Nation in Naarm (Melbourne) in Victoria, Australia. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and a Master of International Relations from the University of Melbourne. Jackie's PhD research project analyses how progress made by Tribal Nations in the United States via the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 might provide a basis for the realisation of Indigenous rights within child protection systems in contemporary Australia.
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Thesis
Advancing Indigenous Rights in Settler Colonial Child Protection: a theoretical study of policy and practice approaches in Australia and the United States
My research analyses Indigenous rights in settler colonial child protection systems in contemporary Australia. Current policies suggest that Indigenous 'deficiency' leads to the overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in child protection systems, disregarding the broader impacts of colonisation. In this project, I consider the Australian context in contrast to the United States approach to Indigenous child protection via the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978. In doing so, this research delivers the theoretical elements and policy exemplars that could constitute a speculative post-settler-colonial future that realises improved outcomes for Indigenous children and their families.