Child+Welfare

For over 150 years, Aboriginal Canadians have been considered a “marginalized” population- one in need of saving, or rescuing, or converting- making them more like “us”, at any cost. The horrors of the Indian residential school system has long been documented, and there is no doubt that the rampant physical, sexual, and emotional abuse that was commonplace, along with the lengthy separation from families and habitual neglect, contributed to a culturally collective form of PTSD that has impacted virtually every generation since. This became most evident during the “Sixties Scoop”- so named for the massive increases of Aboriginal children being brought into care. (In this case, the phrase “in care” refers to being in the custody of a provincial Children’s Aid Society, in either a foster or residential treatment home.) Usually, these children were placed in non-Aboriginal homes for adoption or foster care, and in some extreme cases, were shuttled for adoption in the United States or even Europe. Typically, the biological family that the child had been apprehended from didn’t have the resources for a lawyer, and therefore had very little hope of having their child (or children) returned, or even the expectation of a fair trial. It is not hard to understand why this was another event that infuriated Aboriginals, and led them to further believe that the rest of the country was still trying to assimilate Native children, even though residential schools had begun shutting down (Bala, Zapf, Williams, Vogl, & Hornick, 2004, p. 206). There were several reasons for the increase of Aboriginal children being apprehended- some seeing as being justified, others as not. Alcoholism and other substance abuse has always been viewed as a country-wide “Native” problem. While a disproportionate amount of Aboriginals do appear to struggle with substance abuse, it’s important to realize that this is most likely a result of self-medicating due to a cultural-wide suffering of PTSD. This, in addition to being separated from their own families while in residential school, led to a generation of Aboriginals not knowing how to parent their own children. Given this, it is heartbreaking but not surprising that so many children were apprehended from their homes ((Bala, Zapf, Williams, Vogl, & Hornick, 2004, p. 205). However, this isn’t the only reason why Aboriginal children were being removed in such large numbers. In a way, a cultural genocide was happening again. For centuries, Aboriginal families have raised their children collectively; it truly took “a village to raise a child”. If a child, even from quite a young age, didn’t come home for the evening, there was little to no cause for concern; he or she was simply spending the night with a neighbour or member of extended family, and you knew they would be taken care of. If your own child brought home friends, they were fed and allowed to spend the night. Simply put, you treated every child in the community as your own. From a Euro-Canadian point of view, these cultural practices fly in the face of our vision of a nuclear-centred family being best suited for raising children. Additionally, Aboriginals use different tactics when it comes to imparting life lessons on their children; within tribes, there is a tendency to use teasing and humour in order to “shame” a child into good behaviour. However, to an outsider with little cultural understanding, this was commonly viewed as emotional abuse, and therefore a justification for apprehension (Bala, Zapf, Williams, Vogl, & Hornick, 2004, p. 210).

Like any number of ethnic and cultural groups across the country, there were Aboriginal children suffering from abuse and neglect; there is no doubt that removal from their homes was necessary. However, child welfare as a whole lacked understanding about how important Native cultural practices were to Aboriginal families and especially passing on these traditions to their children. Yet another generation were being separated from their families and culture, and the negative effects are still evident today. The majority of these children who were taken into care, primarily into Caucasian homes, have reported experiencing isolation, restlessness, and an overwhelming feeling of not belonging. Additionally, there are documented cases of abuse and neglect in foster homes. Children’s Aid Societies, at the time, were often reluctant to step in or investigate foster or group homes when there were abuse allegations. This, in turn, has lead to a continuation of substance abuse in order to cope, along with the PTSD cycle all over again ((Bala, Zapf, Williams, Vogl, & Hornick, 2004, p. 211). Today, the child welfare system for Canadian Aboriginals is much different. The creation of Native Child & Family Services has done a tremendous service acting as a resource for Aboriginal families and has helped educate non-Native social workers in the field, especially when it comes to important cultural practices and acceptable child-rearing. When a Native child is taken into care (whether they have Status or not) every effort is made to place the child with kin in the parent’s reserve. Although these are small steps, they have resulted in a new generation being able to stay within their homes and learn how important their cultural practices are. The hope is that this generation will be able break the ongoing cycle of substance abuse and PTSD, and reclaim their history.

media type="custom" key="11370780" Stats (Cherylanne James, 2011)
 * Almost 50% of children in the child welfare system are Aboriginal- yet Aboriginals as a whole only make up 5% of the Canadian population
 * It is currently estimated that at this point there are more Aboriginal children in care then there were in residential schools
 * For First Nations Family Services, it is easier to obtain funding for placing a child in foster care then it is to obtain funding to prevent replacing in the first place (i.e. funding for families for food, clothing)