Public hearing 16 began last Friday and focuses on First Nations children with disability in out-of-home care. It follows public hearing 8, which focussed on First Nations parents with disability who have encountered the criminal justice system.

'Brandon's' grandmother and kinship carer gave evidence about her grandson, a 16-year-old First Nations boy with ADHD and an acquired brain injury. She said she felt 'belittled' by the NSW Department of Children’s Services (DoCS), and that plans that are made are never really followed up. The only First Nations caseworker at DoCS was moved on, she said – imploring that a caseworker getting familiar with a family should be seen as a positive, not a reason to move them on.