scholarly journals Using Peacemaking Circles to Indigenize Tribal Child Welfare

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Van Schilfgaarde ◽  
Brett Lee Shelton
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Extended Family ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Child Welfare System ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Reciprocal Relationship ◽  
Federal Policies ◽  
Welfare Systems ◽  
Circle Processes ◽  
Child Welfare Systems

Historical child welfare policies explicitly aimed to exterminate Indigenous culture and disrupt tribal cohesion. The remnants of these policies form the foundation for the contemporary child welfare system. These policies view the child as an isolated and interchangeable asset, over which parents enjoy property-like rights, and in which the child welfare system is incentivized to “save” children from perceived economic, cultural, and geographic ills through an adversarial process. Extended family, community members, and cultural connections have minimal voice or value. These underpinnings inform federal policies that influence all child welfare systems, including tribal child welfare systems. The result is that tribal child welfare systems perpetuate the individual, rights-centric, adversarial child welfare system that harms Indigenous families. Indigenous children have the right to maintain connections to their Indigenous family, tribal nation, culture, and cultural education. These rights translate into obligations the community owes to the child to ensure that these connections are robust. Tradition-based systems of dispute resolution—frequently called “peacemaking,” among other names, but which we will call “circle processes”—offer a hopeful alternative. Circle processes are rooted in an Indigenous worldview that perceives an issue, particularly a child welfare issue, as evidence of community imbalance that directly impacts the community, and conversely, imparts an obligation on the community to respond. Through the circle, family and community can complete their natural reciprocal relationship. Tribal child welfare has the potential to be a transformative system that promotes community, family, and children’s health and the self-determination and sovereignty of tribes. This Article outlines the ways in which the modern tribal child welfare system has been structured to compartmentalize families and perpetuate historical federal policies of Indian family separation. This Article then suggests that circle processes are a framework for re-Indigenizing the tribal child welfare system to not just improve outcomes (for which it has the potential to do), but to also honor the interconnected, responsibility oriented worldview of Indigenous communities. Ultimately, however, tribes should lead that re-Indigenization process, whether through a circle process framework or otherwise.

Racial Disproportionality and Disparities in the Child Welfare System: Why Do They Exist, and What Can Be Done to Address Them?

2020 ◽  
Vol 692 (1) ◽  
pp. 253-274
Author(s):  
Alan J. Dettlaff ◽  
Reiko Boyd
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Black Children ◽  
Child Welfare System ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Children And Families ◽  
Children Of Color ◽  
Racial Disproportionality ◽  
Welfare Systems ◽  
External Causes ◽  
Child Welfare Systems

Children of color are overrepresented in the child welfare system, and Black children have been most significantly impacted by this racial disproportionality. Racial disproportionality in child welfare exists because of influences that are both external to child welfare systems and part of the child welfare system. We summarize the causes of racial disproportionality, arguing that internal and external causes of disproportional involvement originate from a common underlying factor: structural and institutional racism that is both within child welfare systems and part of society at large. Further, we review options for addressing racial disproportionality, arguing that it needs to be rectified because of the harm it causes Black children and families and that forcible separation of children from their parents can no longer be viewed as an acceptable form of intervention for families in need.

scholarly journals Options for Africa’s Child Welfare Systems from Nigeria’s Unsustainable Multicultural Models

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1118
Author(s):  
Thomas Akintayo
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Child Welfare System ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Sources Of Information ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Response Options ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Welfare Systems ◽  
Mind Maps ◽  
Child Welfare Systems

The sustainability of Africa’s existing child welfare systems remains uncertain, potentially owing to the maltreatment of children amid the competing worldviews of the continent’s indigenous and non-indigenous practices and international childcare models. This article focuses on Nigeria’s unsustainable multicultural child welfare system in order to highlight the inherent challenges of child welfare systems in Africa and proffer remedies. Seven discernible trends derived from available indigenous sources of information and scholarly literature on Nigeria are used as mind maps to describe and discuss Nigeria’s multicultural characteristics and childcare practices. From the discussion, the country’s child welfare challenges manifest in the following forms: ethnocultural, or more specifically, ethnoreligious diversity; the infiltration of Nigeria by non-native worldviews; colonial legacies; vacillating post-colonial social policies; conceptual ambiguities in non-indigenous welfare terminologies; and persistent unnecessary professional rivalries, which are also present in other African countries. As remedies, three transformative response options for the sustainability of the Nigerian child welfare system and those of other African countries are recommended: embracing cultural relativity regarding child maltreatment, leveraging the transformative and expanded mandates of the social work profession for the development of effective and sustainable child welfare systems, and using research and systems thinking as a driver for transforming professional rivalries into multidisciplinary approaches.

scholarly journals Twentieth Century Black and Native Activism Against the Child Taking System

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Briggs
Keyword(s):  
Foster Care ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
Child Welfare System ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Indian Child ◽  
Children In Foster Care ◽  
Care Giving ◽  
Welfare Systems ◽  
Child Welfare Systems

This Article argues that the historical record supports activism that takes the abolition of the child welfare system as its starting point, rather than its reform. It explores the birth of the modern child welfare system in the 1950s as part of the white supremacist effort to punish Black communities that sought desegregation of schools and other public accommodations; and Native communities that fought tribal termination and the taking of indigenous land. Beginning with the “segregation package” of laws passed by the Louisiana state legislature in 1960, the Article shows how cutting so-called “illegitimate” children off the welfare program, called Aid to Dependent Children, (ADC) and placing those whom their mothers could no longer support in foster care was an explicit response to school desegregation. While the National Urban League initially mounted a formidable national and international mutual aid effort, “Operation Feed the Babies,” its ultimate response—appealing to the federal government to reform the welfare and child welfare systems— backfired in disastrous ways. The Eisenhower administration responded by providing federal funds for a program it called ADC-foster care, giving states resources to dramatically expand the foster care system, resulting in hundreds of thousands of Black children in foster homes within a year. Native Tribal nations, in contrast, fought throughout the late 1960s and 70s to get states out of Indian child welfare. After a decade of activism, in 1978, they succeeded in passing the Indian Child Welfare Act, which put American Indian kids under the jurisdiction of tribal courts instead of the states’. Over the next decades, the number of Native children in foster care shrank dramatically. While history rarely offers clear guidance for the present, these two stories strongly suggest the limits of reform for state child welfare systems, and the wisdom of contemporary activists who call for abolition.

scholarly journals Exploring Racial Disproportionalities and Disparities for Black Families Involved with the Child Welfare System

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Travonne Edwards ◽  
Amina Hussain ◽  
Christa Sato ◽  
Jason King ◽  
Michael Saini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Child Welfare ◽  
Scoping Review ◽  
Web Of Science ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Black Families ◽  
Child Welfare System ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Welfare Systems ◽  
Geographical Locations

Background: The overrepresentation of Black families in child welfare systems across the various geographical locations (e.g. America, Canada, United Kingdom) is a growing concern. There are competing explanations for the causes of overrepresentation and recommendations for eliminating racial disproportionalities and disparities in child welfare system. This systemic scoping review will provide a succinct synthesis of the current literature on Black disproportionality and disparity in child welfare. Methods/Design: This systemic scoping review will employ Arksey and O’Malley’s (2005) five stage framework. This will direct our search of the seven academic databases (EBSCO: Criminal Justice Abstracts OVID: Social Work Abstracts Pro Quest: PsychINFO, ERIC, Sociological Abstracts, International Bibliography of Social Sciences and Web of Science Core Collections). These seven databases have been chosen due to their interdisciplinary resources on the issue of overrepresentation of Black families in the child welfare sector. The thematic findings will be systemically synthesized using qualitative analysis and presented visually through a chart. Eligible articles for this scoping review include literature that speaks directly to the experiences of Black families involved with the child welfare system. The results of this scoping review will increase the understanding of how racial disproportionalities and disparities emerge, common outcomes and ways to begin tackling this phenomenon for Black families. Discussion: In order to tackle this gap in knowledge regarding the overrepresentation of Black families in the child welfare system, this comprehensive scoping review will systematically organize the literature in order to understand how this issue manifests and to fill this gap in research. This methodological approach will allow for the development of practical and intentional methods to move forward in mitigating this issue.

scholarly journals Stuck in the Ways of the South: How Meritocracy, Bureaucracy, and a One-Size-Fits-All Approach to Child Welfare fails Nunavut’s Children

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-82 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Johnston
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Social Workers ◽  
Child Welfare System ◽  
Current Approach ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Colonial Power ◽  
Welfare Systems ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Government ◽  
Auditor General

Based on qualitative research that explored the experiences of social workers in Nunavut’s child welfare system, this paper examines the current approach to child welfare in light of a critical report issued by Canada’s Auditor General in March 2011. Through a discussion of meritocracy, this study highlights the problematic approach to child welfare used by the Government of Nunavut, particularly in their reliance on Qallunaat or nonInuit social workers. The territory’s current child welfare system, modeled on child welfare systems operating throughout southern Canada, does little to change the status quo and instead serves to maintain the colonial power structure in place for the last 50 years. This study determined that a unique and culturally relevant approach to child welfare is needed in Nunavut and Inuit traditional knowledge is essential is the move towards this important goal2.

scholarly journals A Review of Literature on the Involvement of Children from Indigenous Communities in Anglo Child Welfare Systems: 1973-2018

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-43
Author(s):  
Vandna Sinha ◽  
Johanna Caldwell ◽  
Leah Paul ◽  
Paulo Roberto Fumaneri
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
The United States ◽  
Empirical Literature ◽  
Review Of Literature ◽  
Research Knowledge ◽  
Indigenous Child ◽  
Welfare Systems ◽  
Child Welfare Systems

A series of recent legal and policy developments in Canada have potential to contribute to reconciliation efforts, particularly related to the overrepresentation of Indigenous children in child welfare systems. However, systematic collection, analysis, and synthesis of research knowledge—particularly, research that is locally grounded—on Indigenous child welfare involvement is notably missing from these efforts. With the aim of collating existing research knowledge on this topic, this scoping review of literature includes a broad swath of literature spanning decades (1973-2018) and countries with similar settler colonial histories (Canada, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand). Our search yielded 881 unique research publications. There was an increase in the number of publications over time in all four countries and a trend toward more empirical literature than non-empirical literature. We found that a plurality of publications focused on programs and services (n = 191), and policy or legal (n = 168) themes. While our review highlights a large base of literature on Indigenous child welfare involvement, it also illustrates the limits of the academic literature in representing the knowledge and experience of Indigenous Peoples and the need for more comprehensive synthesis and broader dissemination of the research related to Indigenous child welfare. These limitations restrict the extent to which existing research can inform the meaningful development of Indigenous child welfare policy in Canada. Due to these gaps, we advocate sustained investment in efforts to synthesize diverse sources of knowledge, support for open source publications, and structural support for Indigenous control of knowledge collection and dissemination regarding policy development related to their communities.

scholarly journals Abolition, Settler Colonialism, and the Persistent Threat of Indian Child Welfare

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Theresa Rocha Beardall ◽  
Frank Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Child Welfare ◽  
Alaska Native ◽  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Child Welfare System ◽  
Welfare System ◽  
Indian Child ◽  
Family Separation ◽  
Tribal Nations

Family separation is a defining feature of the U.S. government’s policy to forcibly assimilate and dismantle American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) tribal nations. The historical record catalogues the violence of this separation in several ways, including the mass displacement of Native children into boarding schools throughout the 19th century and the widespread adoption of Native children into non-Native homes in the 20th century. This legacy eventually prompted the passage of landmark legislation known as the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA). ICWA introduced federal protections against the unnecessary removal of Native children and affirmed the role of the tribe as an important partner in child welfare proceedings. To what extent has the federal government honored the commitments of ICWA and reversed the trajectory of Native family separation since 1978? What can be done to reduce the threat of the current child welfare system on the well-being of Native families? In this Article, we use administrative and historical data to statistically evaluate the magnitude of change in AIAN family separation since the passage of ICWA and locate the institutional pathways that funnel AIAN families into the child welfare system. We find that, despite long-standing treaty responsibilities to support the health and well-being of tribal nations, AIAN children remain at incredibly high risk of family separation. In particular, we find that the frequency of AIAN children’s placement into foster care has remained relatively stable since the passage of ICWA and that the post-investigation removal decision by child welfare agencies is a key mechanism of inequality in family separation. We situate these findings within theories about settler colonialism and Indigenous dispossession to illustrate that the continuous removal of Native children from their homes is not an anomaly. Instead, we argue that the very intent of a white supremacist settler-state is to dismantle Native communities. Based upon these findings, we argue that the child welfare system in its entirety must be abolished in order to stop the routine surveillance and separation of Native and nonWhite children from their families by the state. We suggest that ICWA has provided, and will continue to provide, a necessary intervention to protect Native families so long as this intrusive system remains. We conclude by envisioning an abolitionist approach that immediately redirects social and financial resources into the hands of Native families and works cooperatively with tribal nations to promote Indigenous communities of care.

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