Full Description
Confronting structural inequities in child welfare that have long harmed Indigenous children and families
A decade after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action—five of which focused directly on the protection of children—and in the wake of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, systemic failures in Canada's child welfare system persist. The passing of Bill C-92, which affirms Indigenous communities' inherent right to self-governance in child and family services, marks a critical shift away from colonial frameworks that mandated the residential school system and the Sixties Scoop. Yet, despite this progress, Indigenous children remain vastly overrepresented in foster care and Indigenous communities face ongoing oversurveillance. With contributions from social work practitioners, researchers, program planners, and curriculum developers, Parity in Child Welfare shows how this crisis can be addressed head on by foregrounding Indigenous traditional knowledge and leadership practices.
Beyond its contribution to the movement for equity in Indigenous child welfare, this collection also engages with the frontline challenges practitioners face every day. Contributors address widespread stress and burnout, gaps in professional training, the often-overlooked topic of death and grief in child welfare practice, and more. The eighth volume in the Voices of the Prairies series, Parity in Child Welfare offers a comprehensive and timely exploration of the most urgent issues in child welfare.
Contents
Foreword
From the Editors
Acknowledgements
Introduction—Jason Albert & Christine Chateau
Chapter 1—The Prairie Child Welfare Consortium Story: A Model for Collaboration—Jennifer Hedges
Child Welfare Policy
Chapter 2: The Talking Circle as an Approach to Indigenous Leadership within Indigenous Organizations—Christine Chateau and Jason Albert
Chapter 3: Māori and Oranga Tamariki: Taku Kuru Pounamu, my precious treasure. Shifting power in Aotearoa New Zealand's foster system—Kā mihi nunui Kerri Cleaver
Chapter 4: Preserving Indigenous children rights to connection within culture: Where do the priorities lie?—Peter W. Choate
Chapter 5: Achieving Parity in Indigenous Child Welfare: The Promise of Bill C-92 and the Potential of Long-Term Reform to the First Nations Child and Family Services Program in Canada—Marlyn Bennett
Child Welfare Practice
Chapter 6: Grief in Child Welfare—Ashlee Homewood
Chapter 7: Child protection workers and the impact of difficult work: Going beneath the surface—Faye Hamilton
Chapter 8: The complexity of family for children in care—Christina Tortorelli
Chapter 9: Making Sense of Complicated Love: Partners of child sexual abuse perpetrators speak—Lorna Hanson and Eveline Milliken
Child Welfare Research
Chapter 10: Examining child poverty and child neglect within the sustainable development goals framework—Daniel Kikulwe, Peyton Drynan, and Mykayla Blackman
Chapter 11: Introducing the Childhood Adversity and Resilience Research Training Platform (CARe RTP): Bringing Together Community Partners, Students, and Academics to Increase Research Capacity to Generate Impactful Research in Child Maltreatment and Child Welfare—Ashley Stewart-Tufescu, Tracie O. Afifi, Tamara L. Taillieu, Jamie Pfau, Julie-Anne McCarthy, Ana Osorio and Lauren MacGowan
Chapter 12: Social Work Education for Social Justice Work in Child Welfare—Jennifer Hedges
Epilogue—Marlyn Bennett, PhD
Abstracts
Author Biographies
