Waaneziyenh wii ni noodjiimoowayin (The path that is taken to health together): Indigenous Parents Stories of the Child Welfare System – 2026 Project Update
Dr. Angela Mashford-Pringle (Associate Professor, University of Toronto, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Social and Behavioural Health Sciences Division), Dr. Amy Shawanda (Director of Research, Kenjgewin Teg), and team members of the AMP Lab (Aarti Doshi, Stephanie Cunningham-Reimann, and Sharon Tan) provide a project update on the experiences of Indigenous parents, grandparents, and foster families with the child welfare system in Ontario.
There is a steady increase in the number of Indigenous children and youth entering child protective services in Ontario. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (2015) Calls to Action stated that Indigenous child welfare in Canada is in crisis with Indigenous children and youth losing access to cultural knowledges and practices, their ancestral language, and connection to their families and communities. Currently, scant literature has explored Indigenous experiences with the Indigenous child welfare system across children, youth, parents, families, and communities. Our primary aim was to better understand the impacts of Indigenous child welfare interactions on individual, family, and community well-being among Indigenous caregivers (i.e., parents, grandparents, foster parents).
Our team completed a literature review of the historical and contemporary policies and practices of Indigenous child welfare in Canada since the change to the Indian Act in 1951, during which jurisdictional powers shifted responsibility from the federal to provincial governments. Our research question was “what are the experiences of Indigenous parents and caregivers interacting with the child welfare system?” We conducted 20 interviews with Indigenous caregivers between April and June 2022. Kitchen table-talk interviews were employed as a more conversational method and were facilitated using a semi-structured interview guide, allowing our participants to guide us through their experiences with child welfare in Ontario.
Our senior researchers independently generated and coded for themes that aligned with the Anishinaabe Medicine Wheel and its teachings (Mashford-Pringle and Shawanda, 2023). A special emphasis was placed on determining emotional, physical, mental, spiritual and social dimensions of the stories, and interconnectedness of stories and themes. We heard about surveillance and policing, lack of culturally safe care within the child welfare system, and disruptions to cultural and language learning following children being apprehended from their caregiver(s).
Indigenous parents, grandparents, and foster parents told their stories of intergenerational interactions with child welfare that led to fractured kinship, cultural, and linguistic connections within the family and community. We heard Indigenous families’ stories about experiencing heightened surveillance when living in poverty and/or taking their children out of school for ceremonies and traditional practices, and when a parent or grandparent was apprehended by child welfare, the cycle continued with the youngest generation. Our participants spoke of a lack of culturally safe child welfare services, the lack of consistent support that would benefit the children's mental health and wellbeing, and even fewer resources for Indigenous parents than foster parents. Furthermore, participants emphasized a lack of flexibility from the education system to work with Indigenous families to provide space for Indigenous children to be part of hunting, gathering, ceremonies and family events, especially when the family did not reside in a First Nation community. These stories will be published in 2026 in two journal articles.
