Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T19:48:48.018Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

After the apology: Why are so many First Nations children still in foster care?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 February 2016

Cindy Blackstock
Cindy Blackstock*
Affiliation:
First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada (www.fncaringsociety.com), Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Although the undesirable child outcomes arising from the chronic over-representation of First Nations children and young people in child welfare care have been broadly acknowledged in Canada, research on this critical issue is just emerging. This paper summarizes the North American literature on ethnic over-representation and structural risks to inform future research directions in First Nations child welfare. Comparisons to the situation of Aboriginal children in Australia are also discussed.

Keywords

AboriginalFirst Nationsover-representationchild welfareracestructural risks
Type
Research Article
Information
Children Australia , Volume 34 , Issue 1 , 2009 , pp. 22 - 29
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Amnesty International (2006) It is a matter of rights: Improving the protection of economic, social and cultural rights in Canada, Ottawa: Amnesty International Canada.Google Scholar
Ards, S., Myers, S. & Malkis, A. (2003) ‘Racial disproportionality in reported and substantiated child abuse and neglect: An examination of systemic bias’, Children and Youth Services Review, 25 (5–6), 375–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Assembly of First Nations (2007) First Nations child welfare leadership plan, Ottawa, ON: Assembly of First Nations.Google Scholar
Assembly of First Nations (2009) Canadian human rights complaint, retrieved January 10, 2009 at http://www.fncfcs.com/docs/CHRCFactSheet.pdf Google Scholar
Auditor General of Canada (2008) ‘First Nations Child and Family Services Program – Indian and Northern Affairs Canada’, Chapter 4, 2008 May Report of the Auditor General of Canada, retrieved May 31, 2008 at http://www.oagbvg.gc.ca/internet/English/aud_ch_oag_200805_04_e_30700.html#hd3a Google Scholar
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2008) Child protection Australia 2006-07, Child welfare series no. 43, Cat. no. CWS 31, Canberra: AIHW.Google Scholar
Blackstock, C. (2003) ‘First Nations Child and Family Services: Restoring Peace and Harmony in First Nations Communities’, in Kufeldt, K. and McKenzie, B. (eds.). Child welfare: Connecting research policy and practice, (pp. 331–42), Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfred Laurier University Press.Google Scholar
Blackstock, C. (2005) ‘Same country; same lands; 78 countries away’, First Peoples Child and Family Review, 2(1), 131–159.Google Scholar
Blackstock, C. (2007) ‘Are residential schools closed or have they just morphed into child welfare?’, Indigenous Law Journal, 6(1), 71–78.Google Scholar
Blackstock, C. (2008) ‘Reconciliation means not saying sorry twice: Lessons from child welfare in Canada’, From truth to reconciliation: Transforming the legacy of residential schools, Ottawa: Aboriginal Healing Foundation.Google Scholar
Blackstock, C., Prakash, T., Loxley, J. & Wien, F. (2005) Wen:de – we are coming to the light of day, Ottawa, ON: First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada.Google Scholar
Blackstock, C. & Trocmé, N. (2005) ‘Community based child welfare for Aboriginal children’, in Ungar, M. (Ed.), Handbook for working with children and youth: Pathways to resilience across cultures and contexts, (pp. 105–120), Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Bowser, B. & Jones, T. (2004) Understanding the over representation of African Americans in the child welfare system: San Francisco, retrieved March 29, 2008 from www.http:\\class.csueastbay.edu/faculty/bbowser/sf_report2.doc Google Scholar
British Columbia Ministry for Children and Family Development (2005) MARS information system data May 2005, unpublished raw data.Google Scholar
Burns, B., Phillips, S., Wagner, R., Barth, R., Kolko, D., Campbell, Y. & Landsverk, J. (2004) ‘Mental health need and access to mental health services by youths involved with child welfare: A national survey’, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 43(8), 960–970.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chandler, M. & Lalonde, C. (1998) ‘Cultural continuity as a hedge against suicide in Canada's First Nations’, Trans-cultural Psychiatry, 35(2): 191–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clegg & Associates (2004) Racial disproportionality in the child welfare system in King County, Washington, Seattle, Washington: Catalyst for Kids.Google Scholar
Cornell, S. & Kalt, J. (1992) ‘Reloading the dice: Improving the chances for economic development on American Indian reservations’, in Cornell, S. & Kalt, J.P. (eds.), What can tribes do? Strategies and institutions in American Indian economic development, (pp. 1–59), Los Angeles: American Indian Studies Center.Google Scholar
Costellano, E., Farmer, E., Angold, A., Burns, B. & Erkanli, A. (1997) ‘Psychiatric disorders among American Indian and white youth in Appalachian: The Great Smoky Mountains study’, American Journal of Public Health, 87(5), 827–832.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Courtney, M. & Wong, Y. (1996) ‘Comparing the time of exits from substitute care’, Children and Youth Services Review, 18(4–5), 307–334.Google Scholar
Earle-Fox, K. (2004) ‘Are they really neglected? A look at worker perspectives on neglect through the eyes of a national data system’, First Peoples Child and Family Review, 1 (1), 73–83.Google Scholar
First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada (2006) National policy review phase three: First Nations child and family service agency survey results, unpublished raw data.Google Scholar
Fluke, J., Yuan, Ying-Ying, et al. (2003) ‘Disproportionate representation of race and ethnicity in child maltreatment: Investigation and victimization’, Children and Youth Services Review, 25, 359–374.Google Scholar
Garbarino, J. (1995) Raising children in a socially toxic environment, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Inc.Google Scholar
Harris, M. & Courtney, M. (2003) ‘The interaction of race, ethnicity and family structure with respect to the timing of family reunification’, Children and Youth Services Review, 25 (5–6), 409–429.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Indian Affairs and Northern Development Canada (2006) First Nations child and family services, retrieved January 10, 2009 at http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ai/mr/is/fncfs-eng.asp Google Scholar
Libby, A., Orton, H., Barth, R., Bruce Webb, M., Burns, B., Wood, P. & Spicer, P. (2006) ‘Alcohol, drug, and mental health specialty treatment services and race/ethnicity: A national study of children and families involved with child welfare’, American Journal of Public Health, 96(4), 628–631.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lindsey, D. (2003) The Welfare of Children, 2nd edition, Don Mills: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McDonald, R. & Ladd, P. (2000) The joint national policy review on First Nations child and family services, Ottawa, ON: Assembly of First Nations.Google Scholar
McKenzie, B. (2002) Block funding child maintenance in First Nations child and family services: A policy review, unpublished paper prepared for Montreal: Kahnawake Shakotiia'takenhas Community Services.Google Scholar
Minnesota Department of Human Services (2007) SSIS project update, Issue 235 (April 20, 2007), retrieved April 1, 2007 at http://www.dhs.state.mn.us/main/groups/agencywide/documents/pub/dhs16_138190.pdf Google Scholar
Nadjiwan, S. & Blackstock, C. (2003) Caring across the boundaries: Promoting access to voluntary sector resources for First Nations children and families, Ottawa: First National Child and Family Caring Society of Canada.Google Scholar
National Indian Child Welfare Association (2008) Correspondence to Kathleen McHugh, Director of Policy, Children's Bureau, Administration of Children and Families dated March 11, 2008, re: 45 CFR Part 1355 Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System.Google Scholar
Needell, B., Webster, D., Armijo, M., Lee, S., Cuccaro-Alamin, S., Shaw, T., Dawson, W., Piccus, W., Magruder, J., Exel, M., Smith, J., Dunn, A., Frerer, K., Putnam Hornstein, E., Ataie, Y., Atkinson, L. & Lee, S.H. (2007) Child Welfare Services Reports for California, retrieved April 6, 2008, from University of California at Berkeley Center for Social Services Research website: URL: http://cssr.berkeley.edu/CWSCMSreports/ Google Scholar
Olsen, L. (1982) ‘Services for minority children in out-of-home care’, Social Service Review, 56(4): 572–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1996) Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, Ottawa, ON: Indian and Northern Affairs Canada.Google Scholar
Sealander, J. (2003) The failed century of the child: Governing America's young in the twentieth century, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
SNAICC (2007) Through black eyes: A handbook to protect children from the impact of family violence and child abuse, North Fitzroy: SNAICC.Google Scholar
Statistics Canada (2001) 2001 Census: Analysis series: Aboriginal peoples of Canada: A demographic profile, Ottawa, ON: Statistics Canada.Google Scholar
Trocmé, N., Knoke, D. & Blackstock, C. (2004) ‘Pathways to the overrepresentation of Aboriginal children in Canada's Child Welfare System’, Social Service Review, December, 577–600.Google Scholar
Trocmé, N., MacLaurin, B. & Fallon, B. (2000) ‘Canadian child welfare outcomes indicator matrix: An ecological approach to tracking service outcomes’, Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 4(1), 165–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trocmé, N., MacLaurin, B., Fallon, B., Daciuk, J., Billingsley, D., Tourigny, M., Mayer, M., Wright, J., Barter, K., Burford, G., Hornick, J., Sullivan, R. & McKenzie, B. (2001) Canadian incidence study of reported child abuse and neglect: Final report, Ottawa, ON: Health Canada.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trocmé, N., MacLaurin, B., Fallon, B., Knoke, D., Pitman, L. & McCormack, M. (2006) Mesnnmimk Wasatek: Catching a drop of light: Understanding the over-representation of First Nations children in Canada's child welfare system: An analysis of the Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS-2003), Ottawa: First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada.Google Scholar
US Department of Health and Human Services (2008) National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-being, No.9: Does substantiation of child maltreatment relate to child well being and service receipt?, retrieved April 3, 2008 at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/abuse_neglect/nscaw/reports/substan_child/substan_child.html Google Scholar
US Department of Health and Social Services (2006) Child maltreatment 2004, Washington, DC: United States Government Printing House.Google Scholar
Wulczyn, F. (2003) ‘Closing the gap: Are changing exit patterns reducing the time African American children spend in foster care relative to Caucasian children?’, Children and Youth Services Review, 25(5–6), 431–462.Google Scholar