Voices from the Prairies – serie

Passion for Action in Child and Family Services: Voices from the Prairies offers a fresh perspective on contemporary issues in child and family services in Canada. These authors passionately share their experiences with new and emerging policies, programs, and initiatives--all of which hold promise for effectively meeting the needs of at-risk children, youth, and families. Grounded in practice and arising out of the unique Prairie context, this book offers both information and inspiration for policy makers, practitioners, researchers, and students interested in child and family services.

This is the third book in an exciting series of child welfare books that features voices from the prairies. Child welfare is ultimately about the well-being of vulnerable children and families, and this book challenges us to re-examine--and sometimes to reconstruct--the core values of our profession and the methods we use. This book urges us to awaken our own spirits to uncover the truth of our motives, and to move forward in ways that honour the values and experiences of vulnerable children and families.

Drawing on the expertise of Indigenous scholars and researchers, including voices from the front lines in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta, this book examines child welfare practices in kinship care, FASD, homelessness, aging out of the system, and transitions for rural youth leaving care. Themes running throughout the book include renewing and decolonizing child welfare work, anti-oppressive practices, the historical legacy of the 60s Scoop, and the needs of marginalized and vulnerable children.

Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars forward child welfare issues currently impacting Indigenous children in Canada. Walking Together is the seventh title in the Voices of the Prairies series. Developed by the Prairie Child Welfare Consortium, this edited collection brings together accomplished Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars from the prairie provinces to forward critical research about a range of contemporary child welfare issues currently impacting Indigenous children in Canada. Centering Indigenous knowledge and working to decolonize child welfare, contributors address the over-representation of Indigenous children in the child welfare system, the un-met recommendations of the TRC, the connections between colonialism and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, the impact of Bill C-92, and more. Contributors include: Jason Albert, Dorothy Badry, Cindy Blackstock, Elder Mae Louise Campbell, Peter Choate, Linda Dano-Chartrand, Michael Doyle, Koren Lightning Earle, Arlene Eaton Erickson, Yahya El-Lahib, Hadley Friedland, Don Fuchs, Del Graff, Jennifer Hedges, Bernadette Iahtail, Jennifer King, Brittany Mathews, Eveline Milliken, Kelly Provost—Ekkinnasoyii (Sparks in a Fire), Christina Tortorelli, Gabrielle Lindstrom Tsapinaki, Susannah Walker, and Robyn Williams

Walking Together is the seventh title in the Voices of the Prairies series. Developed by the Prairie Child Welfare Consortium, this edited collection brings together accomplished Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars from the prairie provinces to forward critical research about a range of contemporary child welfare issues currently impacting Indigenous children in Canada. Centering Indigenous knowledge and working to decolonize child welfare, contributors address the over-representation of Indigenous children in the child welfare system, the un-met recommendations of the TRC, the connections between colonialism and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, the impact of Bill C-92, and more. Contributors include: Jason Albert, Dorothy Badry, Cindy Blackstock, Elder Mae Louise Campbell, Peter Choate, Linda Dano-Chartrand, Michael Doyle, Koren Lightning Earle, Arlene Eaton Erickson, Yahya El-Lahib, Hadley Friedland, Don Fuchs, Del Graff, Jennifer Hedges, Bernadette Iahtail, Jennifer King, Brittany Mathews, Eveline Milliken, Kelly Provost—Ekkinnasoyii (Sparks in a Fire), Christina Tortorelli, Gabrielle Lindstrom Tsapinaki, Susannah Walker, and Robyn Williams

Confronting structural inequities in child welfare that have long harmed Indigenous children and familiesA decade after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action—five of which focused directly on the protection of children—and in the wake of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, systemic failures in Canada’s child welfare system persist. The passing of Bill C-92, which affirms Indigenous communities’ inherent right to self-governance in child and family services, marks a critical shift away from colonial frameworks that mandated the residential school system and the Sixties Scoop. Yet, despite this progress, Indigenous children remain vastly overrepresented in foster care and Indigenous communities face ongoing oversurveillance. With contributions from social work practitioners, researchers, program planners, and curriculum developers, Parity in Child Welfare shows how this crisis can be addressed head on by foregrounding Indigenous traditional knowledge and leadership practices.Beyond its contribution to the movement for equity in Indigenous child welfare, this collection also engages with the frontline challenges practitioners face every day. Contributors address widespread stress and burnout, gaps in professional training, the often-overlooked topic of death and grief in child welfare practice, and more. The eighth volume in the Voices of the Prairies series, Parity in Child Welfare offers a comprehensive and timely exploration of the most urgent issues in child welfare.