The removal of Indigenous children from their mothers is a "catch-22" for women who come forward as domestic violence victims, an inquiry has heard.
Thelma Schwartz of the Queensland Indigenous Family Violence Legal Service has told a disability royal commission hearing that in 2015 when she began in her role, failure to protect children from exposure to domestic and family violence was grounds for removal.
A history of contact with the child protection system was also cited as a reason for child removal, Ms Schwartz told the hearing in Brisbane on Tuesday.
"You can see that by coming forward and making the disclosure that you've been a victim, which is all of this advertising and the whole genesis of the Not Now, Not Ever report, this is now used as a catch-22 for this mother and used against her to remove her kids," Ms Schwartz said.
While language has become "more sophisticated" since a change in legislation in 2017, Ms Schwartz said this pattern continues to be the case.
"It still comes down to exposure to domestic and family violence (and if) you were a child yourself who has been through the child protection system," she said.
Ms Schwartz said typical ways of operating were "completely inadequate" in dealing with the over-representation of Indigenous people in criminal justice, juvenile detention and child protection systems.
QIFVLS implements an early intervention case management model in some regions of Queensland.
"Let's say it's an issue of not having adequate housing, it's an issue of drugs and alcohol, it's an issue of family violence. How do we address this to support you to take back control and make you safe, thereby your children safe?" she told the hearing.
"We've come up with a way to deal with this and take back an aspect of control as opposed to the paternalistic way the system has dealt with and treated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people."
Earlier a case worker with Inala Indigenous health, Leigh Anne Pokino, told commissioners that contact with child safety services heightened existing mental health issues for Aboriginal parents.
She said they felt disempowered when dealing with government services.
And in pre-recorded evidence, psychologist Tracy Westerman told the hearing that historically, Aboriginal people did badly on mainstream tests, but results were "significantly higher" when assessment was done by someone with cultural competence.
She said Aboriginal people experience misdiagnosis, overdiagnosis and underdiagnosis arguably more than any population in the world.
Twenty five witnesses are scheduled to give evidence at the week-long Brisbane hearing of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability.
The Brisbane hearing is examining the experiences of Indigenous people with a disability and their contact with child protection services.
