EN:

The Children’s Special Services program was created by the Kinosao Sipi Minisowin Agency to meet the requirements of special needs children and their families in the Norway House Cree Nation community of Manitoba. While the program itself is an excellent resource, its creation highlights the challenges faced by Aboriginal children with special needs and their families in regards to accessing services. Specifically, the creation of the program draws attention to the service vacuum that Aboriginal children with special needs must face. The value of the program to thecommunity cannot be underestimated as due to its existence, fewer parents have to make the choice of either placing their children in foster care or moving from their community in order to access services.

EN:

Urban Aboriginal mothers’ experiences with Family Preservation Services indicate that while such interventions ameliorate the challenges they face, poverty is not adequately addressed. Prominent are the importance of prevention; attention to process; cultural context; and attention to actual needs, however, First Nations mothers (a) feel lucky when they get things they need, (b) feel ‘inadequate’ about the inability to manage finances, and, (c) perceive the lack of support in meeting needs to be a result of racism. As well, poverty often leads to forced compromises which can perpetuate risk of coming to the attention of child welfare.

EN:

This article explores structural determinants as possible causes of the homelessness of Aboriginal youth in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It includes a brief literature review and provides some of the findings of a recent research project, which implemented an Aboriginal research methodology with homeless youth in Toronto. These findings point to a strong link between Aboriginal children growing up in poverty and involvement in child welfare and becoming homeless as youth. Suggestions for positive change at the policy level are offered in order to prevent the next generation of Aboriginal children growing up to become homeless youth.

EN:

The toxic environment that is colonized Australia has broken many of the traditional circles of care for Indigenous children and created a service system which waits for Indigenous families to become dysfunctional before there is any response. The Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA) encourages an approach to Indigenous children and families which is culturally respectful, culturally appropriate and framed according to the need to respect self-determination and human rights. VACCA has developed early childhood and family welfare policies which identify how cultural-strengthening works as a preventative measure to address risk factors for Indigenous children. With the ongoing reforms to Child and Family Welfare arising from the Children, Youth and Families Act, the Victoria State Government in Australia has an historic opportunity to lead the nation in creating an Indigenous-led child and family service system which focuses on issues of prevention and early intervention. The new Act prioritizes cultural and community connection in the best interest principles for Indigenous children, recognizes self-determination and requires generalist children’s welfare services to be culturally competent. The only way to ensure that every Indigenous child is effectively cared for is by developing the capacity of Indigenous communities to look after their own by strengthening Indigenous organizations and agencies. It is Indigenous agencies who are best placed to deliver innovative programs which are culturally embedded and carefully targeted to restore the circles of care for Indigenous kids. Aculturally competent service system is what is needed to ensure better outcomes for Indigenous children.

EN:

The current discourses on human trafficking in Canada do not take into account domestic trafficking, especially of Aboriginal girls. Notwithstanding the alarmingly high number of missing, murdered and sexually exploited Aboriginal girls, the issue continues to be portrayed more as a problem of prostitution than of sexual exploitation or domestic trafficking. The focus of this study is to examine the issues in sexual exploitation of Aboriginal girls, as identified by the grass root agencies, and to contextualize them within the trafficking framework with the purpose of distinguishing sexual exploitation from sex work. In doing so, the paper will outline root causes that make Aboriginal girls vulnerable to domestic trafficking as well as draw implications for policy analysis.

EN:

Canada, a country of considerable wealth and resources, has one of the highest standards of living in the world. This country is politically organized as a democracy that is supportive of political and civil freedoms, yet inequalities among certain populations prevail. In general, Aboriginal people experience poorer economic, social, and environmental conditions than those of non-Aboriginal people (Canadian Population Health Initiative, 2005) and lower involvement in political and civil activity. This report also illustrates the inferior health status among Aboriginal people. Within the school system, an educational policy can serve to address an inequality. Hence, the purpose of the paper is to apply the tools outlined by Deborah Stone in her book, Policy Parodox: The Art of Political Decision Making (2002), to demonstrate why I believe school policies should be developed to prevent obesity among Aboriginal youth, to understand the politics of implementing these policies and to analyze and critique the ideas from hypothesized political opponents. Addressing these injustices provides recognition of the racism in present-day educational policy decision-making processes, which can result in more significant progress toward an equal and just society which ensures the health of Aboriginal peoples and successive generations.

FR:

L’étude vise à décrire les signalements impliquant des enfants autochtones et à les comparer à ceux impliquant des enfants non-autochtones à partir d’un échantillon représentatif des signalements faits aux services québécois de protection de la jeunesse. Les résultats démontrent qu’au Québec, les situations impliquant des enfants autochtones, par rapport à celles impliquant des enfants non-autochtones, se caractérisent par l’occupation d’un logement subventionné, l’abus de substances chez les parents, un nombre plus élevé d’enfants dans la famille, le fait que le signalement soit reçu en urgence sociale et le fait que le signalement provienne moins souvent de la mère. Les enjeux pour l’intervention auprès des familles autochtones et des recommandations pour les recherches futures sont discutés.

EN:

The purpose of the study is to examine reported cases of maltreatment in Aboriginal children and compare them with cases involving non-Aboriginal children based on a sample of such cases reported to Youth Protection services in Quebec. Results indicate that, in Quebec, cases involving Aboriginal children compared with cases for non-Aboriginal children are characterized by living situations such as subsidized housing, substance abuse in parents, an increased number of children in the family, the fact that a case reported was a ‘social emergency’and that a case was less reported by the mother. Intervention plans with Aboriginal families and suggestions for future research are discussed.