Jacynta Krakouer

Dr Jacynta Krakouer

Aboriginal Strategy and Engagement Lead

Australian Centre of Child Protection

College of Education, Behavioural and Social Sciences

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD (as Co-Supervisor) - email supervisor to discuss availability.

Available For Media Comment.

Dr Jacynta Krakouer (she/her) (BSc, MSW, MSP, PhD Melb) is a Minang Noongar woman originally from southern Western Australia who lives and works on Wurundjeri Country in Naarm, and occasionally works on Kaurna Country in Tarndanya.
She is an Aboriginal Enterprise Fellow in the UniSA Justice and Society unit, affiliated with the Australian Centre for Child Protection. An early career researcher with a growing national reputation, Jacynta’s PhD in social work at the University of Melbourne focused on cultural connection for First Nations children and young people in out-of-home care in Victoria. Jacynta's expertise centres around child protection and out-of-home care practices, policies and systems, particularly for First Nations children, young people, families and communities. She is passionate about Indigenous self-determination and Indigenous-led research in these contexts.
A social worker by background, Jacynta previously worked as a Research Fellow in the Health and Social Care Unit at Monash University, and as an Associate Lecturer in the Department of Social Work at the University of Melbourne.
Jacynta has a current appointment as an Honorary Senior Fellow in the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at The University of Melbourne.

Year Citation
2025 Beaufils, J. C., Krakouer, J., Kelly, A. L., Kelly, A. M., & Hogg, D. (2025). 'We all grow up with our mob because it takes all of us': First Nations collective kinship in Australia. Children and Youth Services Review, 169, 1-10.
DOI
2025 Tucker, E., O'Donnell, M., Krakouer, J., & Octoman, O. (2025). Reinvolvement after returning home: a systematic review of the factors associated with post-reunification child protection involvement. Child Abuse & Neglect, 167(107515), 1-15.
DOI
2025 Maclean, M. J., Lima, F., Taplin, S., Marriott, R., Krakouer, J., & O'Donnell, M. (2025). Prenatal and infant reports and child protection involvement: a longitudinal cohort study. Child Maltreatment, online, 1-11.
DOI
2025 Burrow, S., ODonnell, M., Wood, L., Fisher, C., Usher, R., Gayde, R., & Krakouer, J. (2025). Homelessness, family violence and infant removals. Parity, 38(3), 20-22.
2025 Chamberlain, C., Krakouer, J., Gray, P., Lyon, M., Gayde, R., & Langton, M. (2025). Replanting the Birthing Trees: A Call to Transform Intergenerational Trauma into Cycles of Healing and Nurturing. Genealogy, 9(2, article no. 52), 1-16.
DOI
2025 Avery, J. C., Deppeler, J., Krakouer, J., Skouteris, H., & Morris, H. (2025). Calling for (r)Evolution: the rise of the educational phoenix of audacious hope. Pedagogy, Culture and Society, 33(4), 1179-1200.
DOI Scopus2 WoS2
2023 Krakouer, J. (2023). Journeys of culturally connecting: Aboriginal young people's experiences of cultural connection in and beyond out-of-home care. Child & Family Social Work, 28(3), 822-832.
DOI
2023 Chamberlain, C., Gray, P., Herrman, H., Mensah, F., Andrews, S., Krakouer, J., . . . Gee, G. (2023). Community views on 'Can perinatal services safely identify Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents experiencing complex trauma?'. Child Abuse Review, 32(e2760), 1-14.
DOI
2023 Krakouer, J. (2023). Overrepresentation is not accidental: systemic racism in Australian child protection and out-of-home care systems. Advances in Social Work and Welfare Education, 24(2), 107-112.
2023 Hine, R., Krakouer, J., Elston, J., Fredericks, B., Hunter, S. A., Taylor, K., . . . Skouteris, H. (2023). Identifying and dismantling racism in Australian perinatal settings: reframing the narrative from a risk lens to intentionally prioritise connectedness and strengths in providing care to First Nations families. Women and Birth, 36(1), 136-140.
DOI
2022 Krakouer, J., Nakata, S., Beaufils, J., Hunter, S. A., Corrales, T., Morris, H., & Skouteris, H. (2022). Resistance to assimilation: expanding understandings of First Nations cultural connection in child protection and out-of-home care. Australian Social Work, 76(3), 343-357.
DOI
2022 Heath, A., Martin, M. K., & Krakouer, J. (2022). Exploring the lived experiences of Indigenous Australians within the context of alcohol and other drugs treatment services: a scoping review. Drug and Alcohol Review, 41(7), 1664-1681.
DOI
2022 Chamberlain, C., Gray, P., Bennet, D., Elliott, A., O'Donnell, M., & Langton, M. (2022). Supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Families to Stay Together from the Start (SAFeST Start): urgent call to action to address crisis in infant removals. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 57(2), 252-273.
DOI Scopus42 WoS36 Europe PMC15
2022 Krakouer, J., Savaglio, M., Taylor, K., & Skouteris, H. (2022). Community-based models of alcohol and other drug support for First Nations peoples in Australia: a systematic review. Drug and Alcohol Review, 41(6), 1418-1427.
DOI
2022 Skouteris, H., Green, R., Chung, A., Bergmeier, H., Krakouer, J., & Black, M. M. (2022). Nurturing children's development through healthy eating and active living: time for policies to support effective interventions in the context of responsive emotional support and early learning. Health and Social Care in the Community, 30(6), 6719-6729.
DOI
2021 Krakouer, J., Tan, W. W., & Parolini, A. (2021). Who is analysing what? The opportunities, risks and implications of using predictive risk modelling with Indigenous Australians in child protection: a scoping review. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 56(2), 173-197.
DOI
2018 Krakouer, J., Wise, S., & Connolly, M. (2018). 'We live and breathe through culture': conceptualising cultural connection for indigenous Australian children in out-of-home care. Australian Social Work, 71(3), 265-276.
DOI

  • Relighting the firesticks: Accelerating diffusion and progressing to sustainability of innovative care to foster a healthy start to life for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, MRFF Early to Mid-Career Researchers Grant, 01/03/2024 - 31/10/2029

  • Wrapped in Our Ways During Pregnancy, Paul Ramsay Foundation, 11/11/2025 - 31/01/2029

  • Understanding the social and emotional well-being needs of mothers of Aboriginal babies and their support people - PhD Naomi Thornwaite, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, 19/09/2024 - 31/12/2026

  • Development of a Child Safety Training Package, QLD Dept of Education, 27/10/2025 - 26/10/2026

  • SNAICC research - Pre-birth notifications and infant removals, SNAICC National Voice for our Children, 27/06/2025 - 31/07/2026

  • WHRTN – 2023 Indigenous Early and Mid-Career Research Fund, Australian Health Research Alliance, 09/10/2023 - 31/12/2025

  • Bringing Baby Home (BBH) Program, Department for Education, Children and Young People, 10/02/2025 - 30/06/2025

  • Literature Review for Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) Women's Council on Improving Multidisciplinary Responses Project, NPY (Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantatjara Yankuntjatara) Women's Council Aboriginal Corporation, 13/12/2024 - 30/06/2025

  • Family Group Conferencing Evaluation, SA Dept for Child Protection, 03/07/2023 - 31/07/2024

Courses I teach

  • WELF 2015 Aboriginal Australians and the Human Services (2025)
  • WELF 2015 Aboriginal Australians and the Human Services (2024)

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2025 Co-Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Janneen Ada Wanganeen
2024 Co-Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Helen Allport
2023 Co-Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Ebony Rose Tucker
2023 Co-Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Naomi Thornthwaite

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