January 2020 Newsletter

January 2020

Issue on Indigenous Children in Care

"When (my brother) turned eighteen he came back to the family and he’s never been the same. I could remember him having nightmares and screaming and crying. My dad would run into the room and put his head on his lap. And dad would cry with him. This man was eighteen. He said, 'It’s what they did to me Dad. It’s what they did to me.' I always wondered why and one day he started talking to me about it. He was crying. He said, 'I really can’t talk about it because it hurts so much.' He said how the boys were treated, what they did to him, how cruel they were. He went on to explain a couple of things. He broke down and he couldn’t continue. And this happened a couple of times. I would cry with him. That experience in the home – he’s never been the same."

- Aunty June, an Aboriginal Stolen Generation survivor, from Understanding the experience and outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care during the Twentieth Century

Focus on Indigenous Children in Care

The Focus Section brings together research and other documentation published over the past year or two on a particular theme or region. Its aim is to draw attention to the growing body of knowledge developing on the issue and help busy practitioners keep abreast of learning and changes.

New Zealand

Care and protection of tamariki Māori in the family court system

This paper from Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga (NPM), New Zealand's Māori Centre of Research Excellence (CoRE), urges the government and nation of New Zealand to give effect to long-standing Kaupapa Māori models for developing the new required evaluation measures aimed at reducing the disparities for Māori children and young persons who come to the attention of Oranga Tamariki Ministry for Children.

He awa whiria—braided rivers: Understanding the outcomes from Family Start for Māori

This article from the New Zealand Council for Educational Research explores how an approach based on he awa whiria can work in practice in the examination of its efficacy for Māori whānau (families) of the government’s intensive home-visiting programme, Family Start.

Ethnic inequalities in child welfare: The role of practitioner risk perceptions

Indigenous children have a long history of overrepresentation in child protection systems. This exploratory, mixed methods study from the journal of Child & Family Social Work examined practitioner perceptions of risk in response to client ethnic group in New Zealand.

Harm, care and babies: An inequalities and policy discourse perspective on recent child protection trends in Aotearoa New Zealand

This article from the journal of Aotearoa New Zealand Social Work uses Official Information Act and publicly available data to examine recent trends of children in contact with the Aotearoa New Zealand child protection system. It discusses these trends with reference to child protection policy reforms, and an inequalities perspective. The article finds that disproportionality for Maori children in care is increasing, while other groups remain stable or reduce.

Australia

Family Is Culture: Independent Review of Aboriginal Children and Young People in OOHC

This Independent Review of Aboriginal Children in out-of-home care (OOHC) is aimed at examining the high rates of Aboriginal children and young people in OOHC in New South Wales (NSW), Australia and the implementation of the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle (ACPP) in this jurisdiction.

Federal Election Priorities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children

This brief from SNAICC – National Voice for our Children highlights the issue of the disproportional numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care in Australia, which has reached "national crisis proportions," and outlines key steps that need to be taken to address this issue.

Improving housing and service responses to domestic and family violence for Indigenous individuals and families

According to this research from the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, the unintended consequences of limited housing pathways puts Indigenous women at significant risk of having their children removed by Child Protection. The research examines how housing and other service responses need to be improved to meet the needs of Aboriginal individuals and families in the aftermath of domestic and family violence.

Children living in households with members of the Stolen Generations

This report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare presents analyses of selected outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who live in households with members of the Stolen Generations.

The Needs of Carers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children and Young People in Foster Care in Australia: A Systematic Literature Review

The purpose of this study from Macquarie University and the University of Sydney is to support the funding of Aboriginal-controlled research on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children under government-administered foster care arrangements in Australia.

Understanding the experience and outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care during the Twentieth Century

This report details a component of the UNSW national Long-term Outcomes of Forgotten Australians Study reported in No child should grow up like this, which explored the in-care and after-care experiences of adults who spent their childhoods in institutions and foster care during the period 1930 to 1989. In this report, the focus is on Stolen Generations survivors and other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals who participated in the research.

Understanding child neglect in Aboriginal families and communities in the context of trauma

This paper from the journal of Child & Family Social Work argues that to meet the needs of Aboriginal families and communities where there is child neglect, policy and practice needs to acknowledge and address the impact of trauma in shaping the lived experiences of Aboriginal people.

Canada

Inclusive foster care: How foster parents support cultural and relational connections for Indigenous children

This article from the journal of Child & Family Social Work presents findings from a thematic analysis of interviews with 13 foster parents who participated in a mixed methods study exploring inclusive foster care in Canada - an approach requiring foster parents to engage with the family, community, and cultural life of the child for whom they care.

Intergenerational Trauma: The Relationship Between Residential Schools and the Child Welfare System Among Young People Who Use Drugs in Vancouver, Canada

This study from the Journal of Adolescent Health investigated the relationship between familial residential school system (RSS) exposure and personal child welfare system (CWS) involvement among young people who use drugs (PWUD). The study examined the likelihood of CWS involvement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous PWUD when controlling for RSS exposure.

The association of a paraprofessional home visiting intervention with lower child maltreatment rates in First Nation families in Canada: A population-based retrospective cohort study

This article from the Children and Youth Services Review investigates the efficacy of the Families First Home Visiting (FFHV) program, which aims to enhance parenting skills and strengthen relationships between parents and their children, and whether it is beneficial specifically for First Nation families.

First Nations children and disparities in transfers to ongoing child welfare services in Ontario following a child protection investigation

The current study from the Children and Youth Services Review comprises a secondary analysis of the 2013 Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect and focuses on the decision to provide ongoing child welfare services. Specifically, identifying the drivers of the decision to transfer a case to ongoing services, and how these factors vary between investigations involving First Nations children and investigations involving White children.

A Long Wait for Change: Independent Review of Child Protection Services to Inuit Children in Newfoundland and Labrador

This review from the Office of the Child and Youth Advocate was initiated by a formal request from Nunatsiavut Government to investigate Inuit children’s experiences in the child protection system in Canada.

Nurturing Identity Among Indigenous Youth in Care

This article from the journal of Child & Youth Services reviews theories of Indigenous identity development and their implications for Indigenous children, particularly those caught in the nexus of two cultures, as is the case with those in Canadian state care.

Interrupted childhoods: Over-representation of Indigenous and Black children in Ontario child welfare

This report from the Ontario Human Rights Commission explores the over-representation of Indigenous and Black children in the child welfare system in Ontario.

Adoption Protections for Indigenous Children in Canada

This information sheet from the Canadian Child Welfare Research Portal outlines provincial adoption provisions for Indigenous children. Provincial protections pertaining to the adoption of Indigenous children are compiled in two tables, displayed and discussed below .

Giidosendiwag (We Walk Together): Creating Culturally Based Supports for Urban Indigenous Youth in Care

In Ontario, as elsewhere in Canada, there are limited Indigenous-specific resources to assist in strengthening Indigenous youth, families, and communities. This article from the Journal of Law and Social Policy explores how that might be changed by using the Anishnaabeg Youth in Transition Program - a program focused on helping young people aged sixteen to twenty-four in the care of child protection agencies who are preparing to transition out of care - as one model of service delivery.

Live-In Family Enhancement (LIFE): a comprehensive program for healing and family reunification

This paper from the First Peoples Child & Family Review documents findings from an evaluation of the Live-In Family Enhancement (LIFE) program in Manitoba, Canada - an innovative approach in which parents were fostered along with their children - and recommends that this approach be expanded for use in prevention as well as reunification.

United States

Pathway to Permanency: Enact a State Statute Formally Recognizing Indian Custodianship as an Approved Path to Ending a Child in Need of Aid Case

This article from the Alaska Law Review argues that the US state of Alaska should enact a state statute to provide clear guidance to state child welfare practitioners and state courts that Alaska’s state government recognizes an Indian custodianship created through Tribal law or custom as a pathway for Indian children to exit the overburdened state foster care system.

The Reunification of American Indian Children in Long-Term Foster Care

The literature examining reunification for American Indian children reveals mixed findings regarding racial differences. Studies that isolate the impact of race on reunification while controlling for other covariates are needed, and this study from the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research fills that gap.

Cultural Enhancement of PCIT for American Indian Families: Honoring Children, Making Relatives

This chapter from the Handbook of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy describes the rationale, research support, and techniques that support the application of parent–child interaction therapy (PCIT) to American Indian families.

Preserving connections: Best strategies for recruiting and retaining tribal foster families for American Indian and Alaska Native children

This brief guide from Casey Family Programs lays out strategies for recruiting and retaining tribal foster families for American Indian and Alaska Native children, ensuring that indigenous children can stay in their communities.

North America

The Center for Regional and Tribal Child Welfare Studies: Reducing disparities through indigenous social work education

This research from the journal of Children and Youth Services Review addresses one of the most pressing and controversial issues facing child welfare policymakers and practitioners today: the dramatic overrepresentation of Indigenous families in North American public child welfare systems. The article presents a successful model of inclusive education: the Center for Regional and Tribal Child Welfare Studies (the Center) at the University of Minnesota, Duluth, School of Social Work.

A scoping study of Indigenous child welfare: The long emergency and preparations for the next seven generations

This scoping study from the Children and Youth Services Review yielded 37 empirical studies published in peer-reviewed journals addressing one of the most pressing, sensitive, and controversial issues facing child welfare policymakers and practitioners today: the dramatic overrepresentation of Indigenous families in North American public child welfare systems.

Other Research and Updates

Understanding the Situation

Early childhood deprivation is associated with alterations in adult brain structure despite subsequent environmental enrichment

To investigate the impact of childhood deprivation on the adult brain and the extent to which structural changes underpin these effects, the authors of this study from PNAS utilized MRI data collected from young adults who were exposed to severe deprivation in early childhood in the Romanian orphanages of the Ceaușescu era and then, subsequently adopted by UK families.

Related Topics: Effects of Institutional Care

Stress sensitization among severely neglected children and protection by social enrichment

The current study uses data from a longitudinal randomized controlled trial to examine whether severe early neglect among children reared in institutions in Romania increases vulnerability to the effects of later stressful life events on externalizing problems in adolescence, and whether social enrichment in the form of high-quality foster care buffers this risk.

Related Topics: Effects of Institutional Care

Early lexical development of children raised in institutional care in Russia

To investigate the early language development of children raised in institutional settings in the Russian Federation , the authors of this study from the British Journal of Developmental Psychology compared a group of children in institutional care to their age‐matched peers raised in biological families, who have never been institutionalized using the Russian version of the CDI.

Related Topics: Effects of Institutional Care

Developments in U.S. Intercountry Adoption Policy since Its Peak in 2004

This paper from Adoption Quarterly examines the implications of recent developments in U.S. intercountry adoption (ICA) policy for vulnerable children.