In The Child's Best Interest

     Colonialism has created many barriers for Anishnaabek people in Canada.  The Children's Aid society can be a very difficult organization to avoid for families who live in poverty, have suffered abuse or have used drugs to cope with trauma. First Nation's communities have faced apprehension for generations with respect to colonization and the 60's scoop (Blackstock & Trocmé 2005).  I was reflecting on the whole process that these families have been forced to live through.   Life for most Anishnaabek families was good and healthy before European contact.  They had set ways  and traditions to solve problems overcome obstacles.  Anishnaabek culture was invaded and interrupted  by the Europeans and children were taken from thriving homes for reasons that had nothing to do with how well they had been cared for and nurtured. (Hand, 2005) 
   
     Centuries later families are still being divided (Blackstock & Trocmé 2005), even though there are so many other ways of approaching families who are facing difficulties.  I was deeply thinking about why this would be.  I think of my own perfectionism and in the face of adversity, how I often seek to do everything exactly right.  That's just on my level though.  Is is safe to assume that people in Anishnaabek communities have given up?  It might be just me, but it seems that they are sabotaging their lives to be legitimately responsible for the way that they have been forced to suffer in the past centuries, or in other words, actually doing what their families had been accused of in previous generations. Their ancestors did nothing to deserve their children to be ripped from their breasts (Hand, 2006).  It pains me to think that these traumas are not being remedied by new ways of treatment.  We are still apprehending their children.  Women are suffering and are having to live through compound traumas each generation that children are taken from families who are trying to heal.  I don't have all the answers, however I know we aren't providing a holistic approach to child welfare.  A socialist ideology emphasizes freedom, collectivism, and equality and it should be organized according to to social criteria and distributed according to need. (Hick, 2007)  When Aboriginals learn the effects of historical oppression, they can begin to understand how they have been subjected to such harsh social, political and economic conditions, and the healing process can begin. (Blackstock & Trocmé, 2005)
     In addition to all of these barriers, First Nation families have bigger problems to contend with, such as neo-conservative programs that underfund native child welfare programs,  22% below provincial  levels. (Schoffield, 2012)

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/ottawa-spends-3-million-to-battle-first-nations-child-welfare-case/article4581093/

     So we are taking aboriginal children from their families, again/still, and then giving them less than adequate care.  How can this help?  How does this even bandaid anything?  Wouldn't it make more sense for everyone involved, to create programs that actually empower families, not destroy them further?  There are obvious lessons that can be learned from the past.  In order to create lasting change, we will need to start paying attention to our history, and at some point, (hopefully sooner rather than later) begin to right our wrongs.

~ Tara

References:

Blackstock, C., & Trocmé, N. (2005). Community-based child welfare for Aboriginal children: Supporting resilience through structural change. Social Policy Journal of New Zealand, 24(12), 12-33.

Harper, J. (2003). Divided we fall, United we stand: Internalized oppression and its affects on Community Development within Aboriginal communities. Native Social Work journal, 5, 113 Hand, C. A. (2006). An Ojibwe perspective on the welfare of children: Lessons of the past and visions for the future. Children and Youth Services Review,28(1), 20-46. Scoffield, H. (2012, October 1). Ottawa spends $3-million to battle first nations child welfare case. The Globe and Mail.  Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com Hick, S. (2007) Social Welfare Theory. Worden, J., Stuckey, R., & Carroll, A. (Eds.)  Social Welfare in Canada: Understanding Income Security/Second Edition(p.61). Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing, Inc.