The pair live and breathe the justice system - she as one of the magistrates of the Broadmeadows Magistrates Court, and he as an elder in the Koori Courts in Melbourne and Heidelberg.

But for too many Aboriginal people, their encounters with the justice system are painful, alienating and harmful.

Despite everything we now know about the intergenerational harm caused by the Stolen Generations, Victorian Aboriginal children continue to be removed from their homes at a vastly higher rate than non-indigenous children.

According to figures produced last year by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, they are more than 12 times more likely to be removed from their homes than non-indigenous children.

Victoria's Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People Andrew Jackomos said on Thursday, "nine out of ten" children who found themselves in this position came from families with a violent male relative.

On Thursday, the Victorian government officially opened Australia's first Koori Family Hearing Day, at the Family Division of the Broadmeadows Children's Court.

There are Koori Courts operating at a number of locations around the state; in Melbourne, Mildura, Heidelberg and more.

They bring elders, lawyers, a magistrate and law enforcement officials around a table, to advise and assist the magistrate sentencing a defendant who has pleaded guilty. (They must plead guilty to qualify.)

But this Koori Court is different. Its aim is to reduce the trauma that children can suffer when they are forced to take part in court proceedings, and it will focus on trying to keep Aboriginal families in their communities - often placing them with a family member or other indigenous family if their own family breaks down, or their parents are unable to care for them.

Named Marram-Ngala Ganbu, which translates as 'we are one' in Woiwurrung language, the court puts cultural awareness and sensitivity at the heart of what it does.

President of the Children's Court, Judge Amanda Chambers, said indigenous children and young people were over-represented in out-of-home care and the criminal justice system.

"Participating in the court processes and environment can be alienating and intimidating for most people but for Aboriginal people it can be a completely foreign environment," she said.

"It needs to be safe and supportive."

Uncle Kevin said keeping Indigenous kids within their culture was key.

His own brother's four children were removed, he said, and decades later he had still never met one of his nieces, who he believed to be living in Northern NSW.

"She'd be in her 40s now. They have to remove some kids, but as long as they're with an Aboriginal family, that's the main thing."