Deadly Story is a cultural resource portal that aims to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people who are in out-of-home care, to grow in their knowledge of who they are and where they come from as well as support their growing connection to Culture, Country and Community.
We provide this resource because we know that increased knowledge of culture can be internalised to support healing, increase protective factors, help with resilience, self-esteem and pride and lead to better health and wellbeing overall.
How was Deadly Story Developed?
In Victoria, it is a Legislative requirement that all Aboriginal children in out-of-home care are to be provided with a cultural plan that supports their case plan. This requirement is outlined in the Children, Youth and Families Act 2005.
Unfortunately, there was a lot of culturally inappropriate and incorrect information being included in these plans as they were not being developed with a cultural lens or with the appropriate permissions and resources.
It was realised that some sort of portal that held correct and appropriate information that was approved and endorsed by the communities the information was in reference to was necessary. In November 2017 Deadly Story officially launched and has continued to develop its content to support children and young people in out-of-home care over the years.
Our Partners
Deadly Story is the result of a partnership between VACCA, SNAICC, The Koorie Heritage Trust, The Federation of Victorian Traditional Owners Corporation and Brightlabs, in conjunction with the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing.
About the content
The content on this website is collected from many sources along with discussions with community members, including Elders and other Leaders, community organisations, land councils and other cultural information websites. When necessary the sources that are used in the development of pages will be included in the article.
Deadly Story understands that there are many important discussions currently taking place in community including conversations about land boundaries, language and politics. Some of the pages on our website may hold conflicting information regarding these topics and while we understand that this can be frustrating, we are doing our best to provide the knowledge that is appropriate to the topic and mob being discussed.
These pages are designed primarily for kids in out-of-home care who may be disconnected from their culture. It is for this reason we are prioritising their need to know who they are and where they come from over the community politics and discussions taking place. As information is agreed upon, changes will be made to reflect that within the website.
Although every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy, currency and reliability of information, users are responsible for making their own assessment of the information within the site, and for verifying relevant representations, statements and information.
Our website has links to and from this site that are operated or created by or for organisations outside of VACCA. Those organisations are solely responsible for the operation and information found on their respective websites.