The Aboriginal Children in Care Working group recently released the Aboriginal Children in Care Report to Canada’s Premiers. The report states that Indigenous children are over-represented in child welfare systems across Canada. In August 2014, Canada’s Premiers directed provinces and territories to work with Indigenous communities in their respective jurisdictions to share information on local solutions; and acknowledged the need for governments and Indigenous communities to work collectively to address this Canada-wide problem.
This report to Canada’s Premiers provides examples of existing programs and services that have been shown to reduce the number of Indigenous children in child welfare systems and/or improve outcomes for Indigenous children in care. The report highlights a number of issues and challenges, and profiles some best and promising practices along three strategic child welfare themes: root causes of abuse and neglect; prevention and early intervention strategies for Indigenous families; and better supporting the capacity of the child welfare workforce. There are many programs and services in place to address issues related to Indigenous child welfare. Those profiled in this report are only a small selection of existing efforts to support Indigenous children and families.
In spite of existing programming, Indigenous children still vastly outnumber non-Indigenous children in care on a proportional basis. These statistics underscore the need to continue to work together to support vulnerable Indigenous families and children to change the outcomes for future generations.
Read the full report here.
