English - Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies

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$Marie Collins \$

“CAS was called in because the father is an alcoholic. He was removed from the family, the court threw out the temporary care agreement and still CAS would not close my file. I always call the police to have him removed if he should show up drunk. If he is not drunk he can be with his child. There were no concerns about my parenting and still it took over a year to close the file.” - Focus group participant “The relationship between the client and the worker is critical. If they do not connect, the whole situation can go badly. And the parent has little power. There needs to be mediators and neutral people to problem-solve at times.” - Focus group participant HEALING IS A LONG PROCESS ADVOCACY AVENUES Repeatedly, focus group participants asked, “How can a parent safely complain and to whom” When things go wrong in the relationship between the child welfare professional and the parent, the parent felt completely powerless and did not know where to go. Parents need to be aware that they can complain, they can ask for another worker and they can have an advocate to support them as they work with child welfare. It is critical that you inform the family about the complaints process and what their choices are when things are not working. H. PRACTICE: HEALING IS PART OF THE PROCESS OF ADDRESSING FAMILY VIOLENCE In an Aboriginal family, it is likely that each family member has experienced being victimized in some way. Encouraging family members to become open to learning about being a “parent” if s/he has not healed from past experience is a great challenge for child welfare. Healing is a long process of changing beliefs. Women who are abused may believe that they are “no good” and deserve the abuse. While you support the abused woman to understand that she needs to be a protective caregiver, that she does not deserve the violence, and that her children should not see violence, she may stay with her abusive partner. Leaving an abusive relationship is a process, not an event; women may return to an abusive relationship many times during the healing process. Women who are experiencing abuse need to learn new ways of being in the world and it takes time. Women must learn: > > How to detach from a situation that is not safe > > How to create safety > > What safety looks like in practice > > How to have boundaries Elder Pauline Shirt says that when a man abuses a woman, he attacks her spirit. She must reclaim her spirit to walk away from the violence. 112 > > How to protect herself and her children
SEE THE RESILIENCY IN THE JOURNEY OF THEIR LIVES An important part of supporting families towards positive change is to build on the family’s strengths. Each family has demonstrated resilience and has survived based on what they have learned thus far. As a child welfare professional, look for the pieces that are strong and have value, and build upon them. Child welfare needs to credit families for their survival. Families have demonstrated resiliency even if they have not developed all the life skills yet. Mothers are often perceived as difficult because they challenge with a fighting spirit, but this is a reflection of their passion for their children and families and exhibits their survival skills that have helped them surpass difficulties to this point in their lives. MAKE A LONG-TERM COMMITMENT TO THE FAMILY When child welfare becomes involved with a family, it must commit to support the family through the long-term change process. A family that is working to end the violence needs long-term support and a circle of care around them. I. PRACTICE: IMPROVE THE RECRUITMENT, SELECTION AND TRAINING FOR FOSTER PARENTS Focus group participants were often grateful for the foster parents who are taking care of their children when they cannot. They have identified a number of consistent concerns, however: 1. The pool of Aboriginal foster parents is small. In Ottawa, for example there are no Inuit foster parents for the Inuit children in care. 2. Some foster parents are missing the necessary element of cultural awareness, and children may be suffering exclusion from language and customs. A FAMILY EXAMPLE FROM A FOCUS GROUP A grandmother told the story of her daughter and husband. Her daughter had experienced violence from her husband and child welfare services had been involved with the family on several occasions. While child welfare was involved, the support was inadequate. The mother wanted to go to treatment but was not getting enough support and direction; one child was getting lots of support because she had been diagnosed with FASD, but the other child received no support but had the same symptoms; the mother had been drinking but had sober adults in the house with her when she was drinking. The child welfare professional placed the children into a non-Aboriginal foster home. The children are now living with the grandmother (who is also a foster parent). She is seeing behaviour in the children that shows anxiety and not a good sense of identity. The children are unable to express their feelings, are lying and having tantrums. This family needed many services and a way to keep the children in the extended family. 113
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WORKING WITH FIRST NATIONS, INUIT A
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SUPPORTING ABORIGINAL FAMILIES Than
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THE STEERING COMMITTEE Native Child
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8 4 > STRENGTHENING YOUR PRACTICE /
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Child welfare professionals have a
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4. To successfully protect First Na
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A range of violent behaviour can oc
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“The term ‘Aboriginal’ is off
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The Practice Guide is an invitation
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Clan family: This structure is base
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Family violence (witnessing and bei
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could live on the land and in the c
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The historical trauma of Aboriginal
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VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN Adapted from
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FAMILY VIOLENCE Family violence in
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General characteristics of lateral
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G. ATTACHMENT Culture has commonly
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In Indian country, we should probab
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Customary Care: Customary Care reco
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Canada Mortgage and Housing Corpora
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2 > FIRST NATION, INUIT AND MÉTIS
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First Nations people living outside
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First Nations, Métis and Inuit peo
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and meeting obligations to medicine
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C. THE INUIT In 2006, there were 2,
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population relates primarily to the
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Individuals or their children were
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status as a result of marrying non-
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MILLENNIUM SCOOP In her report, Pro
Page 61 and 62: G. ABORIGINAL FAMILIES AND CHILD WE
Page 63 and 64: . . . if we go back to the origi
Page 65 and 66: Effectiveness of Healing Activities
Page 67 and 68: 3 > UNDERSTANDING CHILD WELFARE AND
Page 69 and 70: and linguistic development, is a de
Page 71 and 72: The Medicine Wheel is an ancient sy
Page 73 and 74: Life Cycle Wheel training and teach
Page 75 and 76: 1. Piliriqatigiinngniq — worki
Page 77 and 78: Traditionally, it was the women who
Page 79 and 80: The OACAS Practice Guide, Critical
Page 81 and 82: THE STRATEGIC FRAMEWORK TO END VIOL
Page 83 and 84: 2. In order for development to occu
Page 85 and 86: Circles and involves the community
Page 87 and 88: A key tool that is often used to he
Page 89: Four Worlds International Institute
Page 92 and 93: A. HOW ABORIGINAL FAMILIES DESCRIBE
Page 94 and 95: Indigenous knowledge, including how
Page 96 and 97: “I felt judged by the workers. I
Page 98 and 99: The focus group participants gave t
Page 100 and 101: “When a CAS protection worker cam
Page 102 and 103: Offer as many interventions as poss
Page 104 and 105: The model below shows elements invo
Page 106 and 107: F. PRACTICE: ENGAGE OTHERS TO SUPPO
Page 108 and 109: What are the strengths of this fami
Page 110 and 111: The focus group participants made t
Page 114 and 115: 3. Focus group participants express
Page 116 and 117: Some of the training provided to re
Page 118 and 119: SOURCES Ajunnginiq Centre, National
Page 120 and 121: A. WHAT DOES “ABORIGINAL COMMUNIT
Page 122 and 123: Organizational change within CAS in
Page 124 and 125: ESTABLISH A COMMITTEE OF CHILD WELF
Page 126 and 127: “Our organization has agreements
Page 128 and 129: AHWS Healing Continuum Aboriginal H
Page 130 and 131: SOURCES Aboriginal Healing and Well
Page 132 and 133: A. WHAT DOES ADVOCACY MEAN Child we
Page 134 and 135: community initiatives, conducted re
Page 136 and 137: To download a copy of Children Firs
Page 138 and 139: 3. What interventions are offered t
Page 140 and 141: and ongoing needs with the resource
Page 142 and 143: A. A PROCESS OF RECONCILIATION In 1
Page 144 and 145: S O U R C E S Blackstock, C., Cross
Page 146 and 147: ONTARIO ABORIGINAL ORGANIZATIONS Ch
Page 148 and 149: APPENDIX A GLOSSARY Unless specific
Page 150 and 151: emaining within Canada. All 10 prem
Page 152 and 153: APPENDIX B SAFETY PLANNING FOR WOME
Page 154 and 155: APPENDIX C SAFETY PLANNING FOR THE
Page 156 and 157: flag situations arise from rigid ex
Page 158 and 159: REFERENCES 2-Sprited People of the
Page 160 and 161: Castellano, M.B., Archibald, L., &
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Hudson, P. & McKenzie, B. (2003). E
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Ontario Association of Children’s
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Teillet, J. (2010). Métis law in C
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English - Ontario Association of Children's Aid Societies

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