Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Aboriginal Australians Child welfare'
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1
Jewell, Trevor. "Martu tjitji pakani : Martu child rearing and its implications for the child welfare system." University of Western Australia. Social Work and Social Policy Discipline Group, 2009. http://theses.library.uwa.edu.au/adt-WU2009.0147.
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In this research, I explore my belief that one the reasons for the continuing poor outcomes for Indigenous people was that State-wide and national programs ignored unique local Indigenous culture and did not actively involve local Indigenous people in the development of programs for their area. I chose to examine this perception through investigation of the tension between Indigenous culture and worldview and the dominant White values of the child welfare system (broadly defined), through description of Martu child rearing practices and beliefs in the remote Western Australian town of Wiluna. The Martu live in a remote environment of material poverty, high levels of unemployment, low levels of educational achievement and poor health outcomes. The research sponsored by the Ngangganawili Aboriginal Health Service and located in its Early Childhood Centre, uses an Indigenous research approach based on Brayboy's (2005) TribalCrit to explore Martu child rearing practices, beliefs and values. It uses the stories told by the Martu in Wiluna about the way they and their families were brought up and observations of Martu families to answer research questions around Martu definitions of children and families, their concerns for their children, ways of ensuring the well being of their children, and whether there is a Martu child welfare approach. The research then considers the implications of these Martu practices for the broadly defined child welfare system. The stories told by the Martu show that they have a unique way of bringing up their children that is different to those in the dominant White culture. This uniqueness is derived from a combination of the recent colonisation of the Martu, their culture and their post colonisation experiences. The implications of Martu child rearing for the child welfare system are based on the assumption that Martu are wholly dependent on poorly designed and targeted government provided or funded services, and the current ways of delivering these services is failing the Martu. The research concludes that the key to improving outcomes for Martu children and their families is for the agencies delivering these services to form close working relationships with the Martu; operate within, understand, appreciate, and respect Martu Law and culture; understand their (personal and agency) and Martu post colonisation histories; and allow for Martu control, definition of priorities and development of strategies to address the problems.
2
Spurling, Helen Jennifer. "'Taken young and properly trained' : a critique of the motives for the removal of Queensland Aboriginal children and British migrant children to Australia from their families, 1901-1939 /." [St. Lucia, Qld.], 2003. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/pdfserve.php?image=thesisabs/absthe17575.pdf.
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McComsey, Michelle. "Seeing and being seen : Aboriginal community making in Redfern." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2013. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/seeing-and-being-seen-aboriginal-community-making-in-redfern(59ce4c49-ee58-4a35-a796-f926ef5aff9c).html.
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This thesis focuses on processes of Aboriginal community-making in Redfern, an inner city suburb of Sydney, Australia. It addresses the ways in which the Australian state governs Aboriginal people by developing 'projects of legibility' (and illegibility) concerning Aboriginal community sociality. To address Redfern Aboriginal community-making requires focusing on the ambiguities arising from the contemporary policy of 'Aboriginal self-determination' and adopting an ethnohistorical approach to Aboriginal community-making that has arisen under this policy rubric. By ethnohistorical I refer to the engagement of Aboriginal people in Redfern in Aboriginal community-making policy practices and not a historiography of these policies. Attention will be paid to past and present negotiations concerning the (re)development of the Redfern Aboriginal community and their intersections in the state-led redevelopment process Aboriginal community- makers were engaged in during the course of my research in 2005-2007. These negotiations centre on attempts made to reproduce certain forms of sociality that both reveal and obscure Aboriginal social relations when inscribed in the category 'Aboriginal community'. This analysis is meant to contribute to the limited anthropological research that exists on urban Aboriginal experiences generally and research conducted on Aboriginal experiences in southeastern Australia. It addresses the complex social field of Aboriginal community-making practices that exist in Australia where Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians are located within the bureaucratic structures of the state, institutional networks, as well as non-government community organisations. This research contributes to understanding 'the institutional construction of indigeneity' (Weiner 2006: 19) and how this informs the (re)development of urban Aboriginal communities.
4
Babidge, Sally. "Family affairs an historical anthropology of state practice and Aboriginal agency in a rural town, North Queensland /." Click here for electronic access to document: http://eprints.jcu.edu.au/942, 2004. http://eprints.jcu.edu.au/942.
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Thesis (Ph.D.) - James Cook University, 2004.Thesis submitted by Sally Marie Babidge, BA (Hons) UWA June 2004, for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the School of Anthropology, Archaeology and Sociology, James Cook University. Bibliography: leaves 283-303.
5
Robinson, Shirleene. ""Something like slavery"? : the exploitation of Aboriginal child labour in Queensland, 1842-1945 /." [St. Lucia, Qld.], 2002. http://www.library.uq.edu.au/pdfserve.php?image=thesisabs/absthe16845.pdf.
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Gilman, Deborah A. "Culturally relevant aboriginal child welfare, principles, practice, and policy." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/tape15/PQDD_0023/NQ31984.pdf.
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Filbert, Katharine M. "Developmental Assets as a Predictor of Resilient Outcomes Among Aboriginal Young People in Out-of-Home Care." Thèse, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/23325.
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These two mixed method studies are among the first to focus on resilience among Canadian Aboriginal (i.e., First Nations, Métis, and Inuit) youth living in out-of-home care. The first study was quantitative and consisted of cross-sectional and longitudinal components. For the cross-sectional investigation, the participants consisted of 510 First Nations (237 females, 273 males aged 10-16 years), 39 Métis (15 females, 24 males aged 10-16 years), and 10 Inuit young people (2 females, 8 males aged 10-16 years) who were drawn from an ongoing study of young people in out-of-home care in Ontario collected during 2007-2008. The second Canadian adaptation of the Assessment and Action Record (AAR-C2-2006; Flynn, Ghazal, & Legault, 2006) from the ongoing Ontario Looking After Children (OnLAC) project was used to collect data. The criterion variables were the young person’s self-esteem, score on a suicidality index, educational performance, pro-social behaviour, and positive emotional and behavioural development. The predictor variables included the young person’s gender, ethnicity, age, behavioural difficulties, cognitive impairments, attainment of LAC goals, and number of developmental assets. The longitudinal investigation used the same design as study one, but examined the OnLAC data for year eight (2008-2009) in following 260 young people from the sample in study one. The second study was qualitative and involved interviewing 21 First Nations children and adolescents residing in out-of-home care in northern Ontario to obtain their views about resilience and the factors related to the presence or absence of resilient outcomes. The results provided some support for the hypothesis, in that a greater number of developmental assets were related to more positive outcomes on four of the five criterion variables. The results of the focus groups and in-depth interviews suggested that family members, members of the community (coaches), teachers, and child welfare workers, all play important roles in fostering the youths’ success.
8
MacDonald, Fiona Lisa. "The neoliberal state and multiculturalism : the need for democratic accountability." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/1408.
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This project outlines the existence of neoliberal multiculturalism and identifies the implications and limitations of its practice. Neoliberal multiculturalism involves the institutionalization of group autonomy by the state to download responsibility to jurisdictions that have historically lacked sufficient fiscal capacity and have been hampered by colonialism in the development of the political capacity necessary to fully meet the requirements entailed by the devolution. At the same time, this practice releases the formerly responsible jurisdiction from the political burden of the policy area(s) despite its continued influence and effect. As demonstrated by my analysis of the Indigenous child welfare devolution that has occurred recently in Manitoba, neoliberal multiculturalism therefore involves a certain kind of “privatization”—that is, it involves the appearance of state distance from said policy area. This practice problematizes the traceability of power and decision making while at the same time it co-opts and in many ways neutralizes demands from critics of the state by giving the appearance of state concession to these demands.
In response to the dangers of neoliberal multiculturalism, I situate multiculturalism in a robustly political model of democratic multi-nationalism (characterized by both agonism and deliberation) in order to combat multiculturalism’s tendency simply to rationalize “privatization” and to enhance democratic accountability. My approach goes beyond dominant constructions of group autonomy through group rights by emphasizing that autonomy is a relational political practice rather than a resource distributed by a benevolent state. Building on my analysis of Indigenous autonomy and the unique challenges that it presents for traditional democratic practices, I outline a contextually sensitive, case-specific employment of what I term “democratic multi-nationalism”. This approach conceives of Indigenous issues as inherently political in nature, as opposed to culturally defined and constituted, and therefore better meets the challenges of the colonial legacy and context of deep difference in which Indigenous-state relations take place today.
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Kozey, Stephen William. "Local knowledge as praxis : a reflective critical narrative of child welfare practice and service to Aboriginal children and families." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/42555.
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“The truth about stories is that’s all we are.” Thomas King (2003, p.2).
This study is a reflective critical narrative by a non-Aboriginal practitioner whose professional practice has been associated with provision of services to Aboriginal children and families. The themes of the study include: my efforts to make meaning and theorize about my practice; illustrations of how Aboriginal epistemologies and worldviews have transformed my practice; and evidence in the literature, supported by my practice experience, that meaningful service change inclusive of ‘place-centered knowledge’ is necessary for transforming child welfare service and service delivery.
My narrative draws on: stories and oral accounts of Aboriginal Elders and carriers of local knowledges; families engaged in Aboriginal Family Group Conferences; statements of Aboriginal community leaders and non-Aboriginal human service agency personnel including government officials. Some of the data is represented in the vignettes; from personal reflections of my participation in ceremonial work and Family Group Conference sharing circles.
This reflective narrative responds to three questions: first; what knowledge and human service practice elements a non-Aboriginal professional service provider should possess in order to provide an effective service to Aboriginal children and families, second; what are the impacts of re-introducing local knowledge as the foundation upon which an alternative and effective Aboriginal child welfare service delivery system can be achieved, and third; what paradigm shifts in human services are necessary for the professional helping disciplines to become ‘facilitators of’ rather than ‘obstacles to’ changes that are required for the effective delivery of child welfare services to Aboriginal populations?
I call for a service change that re-introduces local cultural practices including ceremony, healing, and sacred spiritual practices; and a general shift in relationships between professionals and families from a linear ‘results based’ approach that identifies with professionalism and Eurocentric knowledge to a relational and ‘process based’ connection and communication that is characteristic of Indigenous epistemologies. Such a transformation is necessary in order to engage the collective resources of Aboriginal extended families to help reduce the high rates of Aboriginal children held in Provincial protective care across Canada.
10
Clarkson, Adam. "The Cedar Project : exploring the health related correlates of child welfare and incarceration among young Aboriginal people in two Canadian cities." Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/2429/12564.
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Aboriginal leadership and communities at large are deeply concerned about the disproportionate number of young Aboriginal people entering the child welfare and justice systems in Canada. The current institutionalization of young Aboriginal
people must be understood as an extension of Canada’s colonial history, including
generations of family disruption and child apprehensions. More knowledge is needed on
the impacts of these experiences among young Aboriginal people. This study compares sociodemographics, trauma experiences and drug and health related vulnerabilities between young Aboriginal people who were taken away from their biological parents and those who were not, and between those who were incarcerated in the last six months and those who were not. Baseline survey data from on ongoing prospective cohort study of urban
Canadian Aboriginal young people was analyzed to determine variables associated with the child welfare system and recent incarceration. To be eligible, participants had to be between the ages of 14 and 30, be living in Vancouver or Prince George, and have used illicit drugs in the past month. Recruitment methods included word of mouth, posters, and street outreach. Surveys were administered between October 2003 and November 2007. Multivariable regression found that child welfare was associated with having at
least one parent attend residential school, suicide ideation, and ever being on the street for three nights or more. Among those who injected drugs, being taken from parents was associated with overdose, injecting with used syringes, and self-harming. Recent
incarceration was associated with currently self-harming, being male, ever being in
juvenile detention, and injection drug use for the total population, and injecting with a used syringe and spending three nights or more on the street for injectors. Eleven percent of injectors who were incarcerated reported injecting while incarcerated. Dedicated efforts are required to support young Aboriginal people who
have been involved in the child welfare and justice systems. Focus on trauma care and
on supporting families and communities is crucial in addressing the disproportionate
number of institutionalized Aboriginal young people. Jurisdictional reform, cultural
programming, supportive housing and harm reduction strategies are urgently needed.
11
Parry, Naomi School of History UNSW. "'Such a longing': black and white children in welfare in New South Wales and Tasmania, 1880-1940." 2007. http://handle.unsw.edu.au/1959.4/40786.
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When the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission tabled Bringing them home, its report into the separation of indigenous children from their families, it was criticised for failing to consider Indigenous child welfare within the context of contemporary standards. Non-Indigenous people who had experienced out-of-home care also questioned why their stories were not recognised. This thesis addresses those concerns, examining the origins and history of the welfare systems of NSW and Tasmania between 1880 and 1940. Tasmania, which had no specific policies on race or Indigenous children, provides fruitful ground for comparison with NSW, which had separate welfare systems for children defined as Indigenous and non-Indigenous. This thesis draws on the records of these systems to examine the gaps between ideology and policy and practice. The development of welfare systems was uneven, but there are clear trends. In the years 1880 to 1940 non-Indigenous welfare systems placed their faith in boarding-out (fostering) as the most humane method of caring for neglected and destitute children, although institutions and juvenile apprenticeship were never supplanted by fostering. Concepts of child welfare shifted from charity to welfare; that is, from simple removal to social interventions that would assist children's reform. These included education, and techniques to enlist the support of the child's family in its reform. The numbers of non-Indigenous children taken into care were reduced by economic and environmental measures, such as payments to single mothers. The NSW Aborigines Protection Board dismissed boarding-out as an option for Indigenous children and applied older methods, of institutionalisation and apprenticeship, to children it removed from reserves. As non-Indigenous welfare systems in both states were refined, the Protection Board clung to its original methods. It focussed on older children, whilst allowing reserves to deteriorate, and reducing the rights of Aboriginal people. This cannot simply be explained by race, for Tasmania did not adopt the same response. This study shows that the policies of the Aborigines Protection Board were not consonant with wider standards in child welfare of the time. However, the common thread between Indigenous and non-Indigenous child removal was the longing of children and their families for each other.
12
Gilman, Deborah A. "Culturally relevant aboriginal child welfare, principles, practice, and policy." 1997. http://hdl.handle.net/1993/1421.
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Aboriginal workers appear to bring a holistic approach to their practice of child welfare. The theory of reasoned action (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980) predicts a relationship between individuals' characteristics such as ethnicity and their beliefs, attitudes, behavioral intentions, and behaviors. Based on this theory, the study compared the intended interventions of 26 Aboriginal workers from Aboriginal child welfare agencies and 32 non-Aboriginal workers from agencies serving rural and remote areas. Workers responded to questionnaires consisting of rating scales and open-ended questions requiring written responses. Results indicated that Aboriginal workers rated a set of mainstream social work practice principles as less frequently relevant to their practice. A repeated-measures multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) indicated that Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal workers would respond differently to four Aboriginal child welfare vignettes. Specifically, Aboriginal workers indicated that they would be more likely than non-Aboriginal workers to employ less intrusive interventions. They were also more likely to favor some short- and long-term interventions. Workers did not differ in their intentions to employ within-family interventions. Given that non-Aboriginal workers reported completing significantly higher levels of education than Aboriginal workers, analyses of covariance were conducted with education as the covariate. For the practice principles, a MANCOVA indicated no difference between the two groups with respect to relevance ratings. However, a repeated-measures MANCOVA indicated that Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal workers still differed with respect to their intended interventions. Also, a MANCOVA indicated that Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal workers differed with respect to their intentions to intervene at varying levels of intrusiveness. Five Aboriginal workers were interviewed to provide a context for the findings. The results suggest that education influences a worker's assessment of the relevance of practice principles. However, the application of these principles is more complex and appears to be influenced by a worker's ethnicity. With respect to culturally relevant Aboriginal child welfare policy, recommendations were made to alter time constraints imposed on Aboriginal child welfare cases and to support interventions that aim to strengthen Aboriginal families.
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Cameron, Jolene. "Examining the experience of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry-Child Welfare Initiative process: a case study examining the clients' perspective." 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1993/8450.
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The purpose of this study has been to explore the experience of parents who were part of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry–Child Welfare Initiative (AJI-CWI). This restructuring of the child welfare system in Manitoba was the first of its kind in Canada. To date, no research has been done which explores the clients’ experience of this restructuring. This research was done using an Indigenous perspective and a qualitative and quantitative methodology and case study. Three themes were identified and discussed: Love, Trust, and Trauma. The research findings suggest that the AJI-CWI was an important and necessary change to the child welfare system for Aboriginal people in Manitoba. However, systemic issues which have been in existence since before the restructuring occurred, continue to affect the way in which child welfare services are delivered. Recommendations for child welfare practitioners, future research, policy, and education are discussed.
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Hardisty-Neveau, Madelain. "Exploring Aboriginal child welfare practice in remote communities: a qualitative study." 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1993/8483.
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This research study considers the experiences of nine Aboriginal child welfare workers who worked in five remote communities. The purpose was to describe some of their child welfare practices. This qualitative study included the oral tradition and story telling techniques of the Indigenous paradigm. The study explored three general areas of interest: residence and employment in ones' community of origin, the availability of resources and supports for child welfare practice, and knowledge and application of traditional Aboriginal cultural methods. These areas were explored in work done within the children in care, child protection and family services programs in child welfare. All the workers used both conventional and non-conventional methods of child welfare practice in their respective communities. Child welfare is a difficult practice under any circumstance, and this study indicates that workers often tackle complex issues with very few resources or supports. Child placement is a growing concern and the lack of culturally appropriate services results in Aboriginal children experiencing a disconnection not only from their family, but also from the community and culture of their birth. Traditional Ojibway culture was known to many of the participants. Although there were exceptions, the application of cultural practices was most often limited to working with the extended family and private arrangement placements. This exploratory study raises some implications regarding the following: Child welfare may be responsible for the transmission of cultural knowledge to children in care. Should Aboriginal agencies provide tutorials on colonization as part of the intervention with families? These are issues that require further research.
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Sanders, Will. "Access, administration and politics : the Australian social security system and Aborigines." Phd thesis, 1986. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/130118.
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This work is about Australian government social security
policy towards Aborigines. It begins by outlining the move from
the legislative exclusion of Aborigines from the social security
system in the early part of this century to their gradual
legislative inclusion between 1941 and 1966. The rest of chapter
1 is devoted to clarifying my conceptual approach to the notion
of policy and to outlining an approach to the study. In it I
argue that policy needs to be understood in terms of patterns of
governmental commitment over time, rather than as something that
can be comprehended in particular documents, such as legislation,
or in the words or actions of particular participants, such as
government ministers. As a consequence, policy needs to be
studied and analysed as it emerges from the strategic
interactions of all those involved in a particular shpere of
governmental activity. This approach to the study of policy
commits me to examining the established patterns of governmental
commitment against which recent relations between Aborigines and
the social security system have emerged. For this reason, the
rest of part I of the work provides background material on the
general dynamics of Australian social security administration and
on general governmental approaches to Aborigines.
Parts II and III of the work provide a detailed empirical
account of recent relations between the social security system
and Aborigines. Building on a distinction between patronal and
legal bureaucratic access structures for the poor, part II
analyses the changing roles and resources of participants
involved in this area of government activity. Chapter 4 identifies the way in which social security payments to
Aborigines were, until the 1960s, largely incorporated into the
existing highly patronal special purpose state-level Aboriginal
welfare systems. Chapter 5 traces the transformation of this
pattern of servicing through a growing DSS awareness of and
commitment to it new Aboriginal clientele, while chapter 6
identifies the effects on Aboriginal access to social security
payments of changes in the non-government Aboriginal welfare
sector.
Part III of the work inquires more closely into the
processes through which this general policy change has occurred.
It examines a number of specific debates in recent years over the
application of particular aspects of the social security system's
rules to Aborigines. Chapter 7 examines instances of the
breakdown of standard DSS procedures when applied to Aborigines.
Chapter 8 recounts debates over the application of the social
security system's family income units to Aborigines. Chapters 9
and 10 are concerned with various aspects of recent debates over
Aboriginal eligibility for unemployment benefit.
Part IV of the work returns to the overall concern with
policy maintenance and transformation. Drawing on the details of
parts II and III, it attempts first to identify the general
nature of the transformation of Aboriginal access to social
security payments and of the DSS's commitment to Aborigines and
second to identify some general characteristics of the processes
through which this policy change has emerged.
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Schiffer, Jeffrey J. "Feathers, Beads and False Dichotomies: Indigenizing Urban Aboriginal Child Welfare in Canada." Thesis, 2014. https://doi.org/10.7916/D8251GQZ.
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This dissertation explores historical processes and daily practices of indigenization within the context of British Columbia's model for delegating Aboriginal agencies for child and family services. This research draws from historical data, examining the ways in which contemporary indigenization within Aboriginal child welfare is shaped by Canada's colonial past- most notably, the historical relationship between the Indian Residential School System and Aboriginal child welfare in Canada. Grounded in indigenous methodologies, research practice, and critical theory, this dissertation queries indigenization within the Pacific Aboriginal Child Welfare Association (PACWA). This dissertation explores the complexity of the urban setting in which PACWA operates, providing case studies of daily practices of indigenization within the association, considering the roles of Aboriginal Elders and Knowledge Keepers throughout this process, and arguing for the need to reframe urban Aboriginal child welfare in Canada. This dissertation asserts that Indigenization at PACWA is making significant differences in the lives of children and families involved in Aboriginal child welfare and that Aboriginal families continue to have their children removed at alarming rates most often because they are living in the aftermath of colonization, amidst contemporary conditions that continue to marginalize Aboriginal peoples. Indigenization is a process that can and is being achieved within the context of child welfare in British Columbia today. It is a process connected to Aboriginal sovereignty, self-government, identity and mainstream-Aboriginal relations. It is also a process that is making significant impacts in the lives of those connected to Aboriginal child welfare (Aboriginal and otherwise), while simultaneously being challenged by the structural inequalities and political eddies that continue to marginalize urban Aboriginal peoples. This research demonstrates that successful indigenization practice, at the level of large organizations such as PACWA, requires that various levels of Canadian government view them as true partners in a project of decolonization and indigenization. This requires a recognition and honouring of history and diversity of Aboriginal peoples in Canada, validated by means of mutual respect and sharing power.
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Gosek, Gwendolyn M. "The aboriginal justice inquiry-child welfare initiative in manitoba: a study of the process and outcomes for Indigenous families and communities from a front line perspective." Thesis, 2017. https://dspace.library.uvic.ca//handle/1828/8924.
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As the number of Indigenous children and youth in the care of Manitoba child welfare steadily increases, so do the questions and public debates. The loss of children from Indigenous communities due to residential schools and later on, to child welfare, has been occurring for well over a century and Indigenous people have been continuously grieving and protesting this forced removal of their children. In 1999, when the Manitoba government announced their intention to work with Indigenous peoples to expand off-reserve child welfare jurisdiction for First Nations, establish a provincial Métis mandate and restructure the existing child care system through legislative and other changes, Indigenous people across the province celebrated it as an opportunity for meaningful change for families and communities. The restructuring was to be accomplished through the Aboriginal Justice Initiative-Child Welfare Initiative (AJI-CWI).
Undoubtedly, more than a decade later, many changes have been made to the child welfare system but children are still been taken into care at even higher rates than before the changes brought about by the AJI-CWI. In order to develop an understanding of what has occurred as a result of the AJI-CWI process, this study reached out to child welfare workers who had worked in the system before, during and after the process was put in place. Using a storytelling approach based in an Indigenous methodology, twenty-seven child welfare workers shared how they perceived the benefits, the deficits, the need for improvement and how they observed the role of Indigenous culture within the child welfare context. The stories provide a unique insight into how the changes were implemented and how the storytellers experienced the process, as well as their insights into barriers, disappointments, benefits and recommendations for systemic change.Graduate
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Williams, Cybil R. A. "Aboriginal front line workers' response to Aboriginal Justice Inquiry-Child Welfare implementation : an exploration into front line workers' experiences." 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1993/3829.
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The field of Aboriginal child and family services in Canada has evolved in a rapid fashion for the past 50 years. Front line practitioners in this high stress field respond to a quickly evolving ideology, and must develop best practice techniques in the face of enormous social problems of Aboriginal people in Canada. Manitoba is on the cusp of developing the first model of child welfare of its kind in Canada. The Aboriginal Justice Inquiry- Child Welfare Initiative is Manitoba's new child welfare legislation that recognizes the rights of Aboriginal peoples to provide child protection services to their members. Using Qualitative Analysis, and structured interviews, this researcher explores and describes the experiences and perceptions of eight Aboriginal front line workers who are employed in three southern Manitoba Aboriginal child welfare agencies in phase four of this historic implementation. Results have indicated a strong commitment to Aboriginal focused interventions that are based on historical and cultural realities of Aboriginal peoples. Researcher has highlighted themes evident in the results, and has developed a series of recommendations and conclusions.
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GAUTHIER, MICHAEL J. "THE IMPACT OF THE RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL, CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM AND INTERGENERATIONAL TRAUMA UPON THE INCARCERATION OF ABORIGINALS." Thesis, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/1974/6328.
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This was a qualitative research study involving Aboriginal offenders at a Federal institution in the Ontario Region. The purpose of this study was to illuminate the Aboriginal offenders‘ perspectives on their experiences that led to their incarceration. The major research questions guiding this study include:
1. What experiences do Aboriginal offenders feel contributed to their incarceration?
2. What do Aboriginal offenders feel could have prevented their incarceration?
3. How do Aboriginal offenders describe their experiences with the Residential School and child welfare systems?
4. What are the Aboriginal offenders' perspectives on their experiences with CSC‘s healing and intervention programs?
One of the goals of this study was to provide information to CSC to improve the reintegration programs and help Aboriginal offenders become law abiding citizens. The data was collected from individual interviews, which was analyzed in detail to develop themes.
The analyses sought for stories that captured the depth of the experiences that led to the Aboriginal offenders‘ incarcerations.
This study provided the personal perspective of the offenders as to how the Residential School and child welfare system have impacted their lives, and offers some insight into the over-representation of Aboriginal offenders in the prison system. This study also demonstrated how the socio-economic situation of these Aboriginal offenders played a role in their path towards prison. It is important to capture the voices of the
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Aboriginal offenders‘ experiences towards incarceration. Their stories offer ways to help other Aboriginal people.
We must have Aboriginal community members involved in the lives of Aboriginal youth to prevent them from getting into trouble, and find alternative positives outlets and activities. We must instill and provide hope and inspiration so that our youth have something to look forward to in their lives. I know this is happening to varying degrees in our Aboriginal communities; however, we need to keep working towards this goal. In addition, CSC might consider allocating more resources and financial assistance to Aboriginal communities, who are dealing with their people involved within the prison system.Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2011-02-24 20:22:59.526
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Lucas, Linda. "A framework for social work practice: Usma Child and Family Services." Thesis, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/1828/1101.
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This exploratory study examines social work practice at Usma Child and Family Services
and provides a descriptive understanding of social work practice within the Nuu chah nulth communities. An interpretive analysis explores participants’ views about social work practice in a First Nations child welfare context. Qualitative interviewing and thematic analyses provide the basis for theme identification, which includes: Historical and political influences; Family and extended family; Building relationships; Children in care: knowing where they are from; and Helper’s values. The study concludes with a discussion of Aboriginal social work practice as a decolonizing framework.
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Atkinson, Grace H. "Do no further harm: becoming a White ally in child welfare work with Aboriginal children, families, and communities." Thesis, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1828/3091.
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The purpose of this thesis is to support White social workers who wish to become allies in their child welfare work with Aboriginal children, families, and communities. It is based on the premise that it is crucial for Aboriginal children to remain connected with their families, communities, and cultures. To this end White social workers need to consider practicing in a different way. Using the stories of five White social workers on their journey to become allies, this thesis identifies a process which can support other would-be White allies on their journey. An autoethnographical method informed by Critical Race Theory and White Racial and Social Development Models was used to create a thematic analysis of the journals of participating social workers. Five main themes emerged that contribute to a process others can use to guide their own journeys to becoming White allies in their practice.
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Blackstock, Cynthia (Cindy). "When Everything Matters: Comparing the Experiences of First Nations and Non-Aboriginal Children Removed from their Families in Nova Scotia from 2003 to 2005." Thesis, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1807/19024.
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The Canadian Incidence Study on Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (Trocme, 2001) found that structural factors such as poverty, poor housing and substance misuse contribute to the over-representation of First Nations children in child welfare care and yet there is very little information on the experiences of First Nations and Non-Aboriginal children after they are placed in care. The When Everything Matters study tracks First Nations and Non-Aboriginal chlidren removed from their families between 2003-2005 in Nova Scotia to the time of reunification or to the time of data collection if the child remained in care. The characteristics of children and their families are compared to the primary aims of child welfare services provided to children and their families. Results indicate that poor families living in poor housing are graphically over-represented among all families who have their children removed. Poverty-related services were not provided to families in proportion to its occurrence. Caregiver incapacity related to substance misuse was most often cited as the primary reason for removal and although substance misuse services were provided there is a need for further child welfare training, policy and services in this area given the scope of the problem presenting in both First Nations and Non-Aboriginal families. Study findings are nested in a new bi-cultural theoretical framework founded in First Nations ontology and physic's theory of everything called the breath of life theory. Implications for theoretical development as well as child welfare research, policy and practice are discussed.
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Rousseau, Jane. "Empowered or Tokenized?: The Experiences of Aboriginal Human Service Workers and Organizational Responses in a Historically Oppressive Child Welfare System." Thesis, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1828/5273.
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Government human service organizations regularly attempt to recruit ethnically and culturally diverse professionals to improve services to diverse communities. The assumption here is that organizational culture and structure support this organizational practice. This study considers the unique challenge for Aboriginal professionals who work in a government child welfare system responsible for the oppression of Aboriginal children, families, and communities.
As a non-Aboriginal organizational insider and researcher, I use a combined Indigenous/ethnographic approach to explore these issues with Aboriginal professionals within the British Columbia Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD). This study involves a dual focus that examines the history, identity, values, motivations, and practice approaches of Aboriginal professionals as well as how organizational structural and environment variables support or impede their representation of community needs and interests. Analysis of these two areas results in significant findings for the organization, the social work profession, and various practice and organizational diversity literatures.
Aboriginal participant descriptions of values, beliefs, and practices contribute to literature exploring contemporary Indigenous practice approaches that integrate traditional knowledge with professional practice. Consistent with some representative bureaucracy studies, participant descriptions of personal history, experience, practice, and motivation to work in MCFD indicate values, beliefs, and motivations strongly shared with their representative group: to reduce the number of Aboriginal children in government care and reconnect them to community.
Aboriginal participant role tensions and dual accountabilities, resulting from their unique community/Ministry insider/outsider position, provide context to studies that explore tensions and contradictions that exist for diverse professionals working in their communities through mainstream organizations.
Findings also contribute to studies in representative bureaucracy and other organizational diversity approaches concerned with the ability of diverse professionals to actively represent community interests. Organizational variables, such as low Aboriginal practice support, racism, cultural incompetence, hierarchical structure and decision making, risk-averse practice norms, poorly implemented rhetorical change initiatives, and institutional physical environments, among others, impede the ability of Aboriginal participants to actively represent community interests. Mitigating factors were found where some Aboriginal participants describe significant organizational support at the worksite level through dedicated culturally competent Aboriginal management and practice teams.Graduate
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janerousseau@shaw.ca
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GAUTHIER, MICHAEL J. "THE IMPACT OF THE RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL, CHILD WELFARE SYSTEM AND INTERGENERATIONAL TRAUMA UPON THE INCARCERATION OF ABORIGINALS." Thesis, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1974/6239.
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Thesis (Master, Education) -- Queen's University, 2010-12-09 18:03:40.27This was a qualitative research study involving Aboriginal offenders at a Federal institution in the Ontario Region. The purpose of this study was to illuminate the Aboriginal offenders perspectives on their experiences that led to their incarceration. The major research questions guiding this study include: 1. What experiences do Aboriginal offenders feel contributed to their incarceration? 2. What do Aboriginal offenders feel could have prevented their incarceration? 3. How do Aboriginal offenders describe their experiences with the Residential School and child welfare systems? 4. What are the Aboriginal offenders' perspectives on their experiences with CSCs healing and intervention programs? One of the goals of this study was to provide information to CSC to improve the reintegration programs and help Aboriginal offenders become law abiding citizens. The data was collected from individual interviews, which was analyzed in detail to develop themes. The analyses sought for stories that captured the depth of the experiences that led to the Aboriginal offenders incarcerations. This study provided the personal perspective of the offenders as to how the Residential School and child welfare system have impacted their lives, and offers some insight into the over-representation of Aboriginal offenders in the prison system. This study also demonstrated how the socio-economic situation of these Aboriginal offenders played a role in their path towards prison. It is important to capture the voices of the Aboriginal offenders experiences towards incarceration. Their stories offer ways to help other Aboriginal people. We must have Aboriginal community members involved in the lives of Aboriginal youth to prevent them from getting into trouble, and find alternative positives outlets and activities. We must instill and provide hope and inspiration so that our youth have something to look forward to in their lives. I know this is happening to varying degrees in our Aboriginal communities; however, we need to keep working towards this goal. In addition, CSC might consider allocating more resources and financial assistance to Aboriginal communities, who are dealing with their people involved within the prison system.
Master
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Fowkes, Lisa. "Settler-state ambitions and bureaucratic ritual at the frontiers of the labour market: Indigenous Australians and remote employment services 2011–2017." Phd thesis, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1885/160842.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis explores how policy is enacted – in this case, the
Australian Government’s labour market program for remote
unemployed people, initially known as the Remote Jobs and
Communities Program (RJCP) and then the Community Development
Programme (CDP). It outlines the development and delivery of the
program from 2011, when the then Labor Government identified the
need for a specific remote employment program, placing the
employment participation of remote Indigenous people (who made up
over 80% of the remote unemployed) at centre stage. It examines
the changes that occurred to the program following the 2013
election of a Coalition Government, including the introduction of
‘continuous’ Work for the Dole.
The focus of the thesis is on how patterns of practice have
emerged in these programs, in particular: how providers have
responded; how frontline workers navigate their roles; and how
‘Work for the Dole’ actually operates. What emerges is a gulf
between bureaucratic and political ambitions for these programs
and the ways in which participants and frontline workers view and
enact them. This is more than a problem of poor implementation or
the subversions of street-level bureaucrats and clients. There is
evidence of a more fundamental failure of technologies of
settler-state government as they are applied to remote Indigenous
peoples. On the remote, intercultural frontiers of the labour
market, the limits of centralised attempts at ‘reform’ become
clear. Practices intended to tutor Indigenous people in the ways
of the labour market are emptied of meaning. The Indigenous
people who are the targets of governing efforts fail to conform
with desired behaviours of ‘self-governing’ citizens, even in
the face of escalating penalties. As a result, government
ambitions to transform the behaviours and subjectivities of
Indigenous people are reduced to bureaucratic rituals,
represented in numbers and graphs on computer screens in
Canberra.
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Squires, Maurice Alfred. "Liberating our children revisited : what did the aboriginal community ask for in 1991, and what did they get?" 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/1828/421.
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Cameron, Rose Ella. "What are you in the dark? The Transformatiive Powers of Manitouminasuc upon the Identities of Anishinabeg in the Ontario Child Welfare System." Thesis, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/1807/26156.
Full textAbstract:
The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore, describe and examine how the child welfare experience affects the personal and social identities of Anishinabe participants. Contextual realities, specifically the cultural and child welfare contexts, and how participants situate themselves in those realities, are explored. A Critical Ekweism conceptual framework is used to inform the design of the study and analyze the unique experiences of participants. The framework seeks to respect and understand the unique historical backgrounds and perspectives of participants as they critically evaluate their contexts as knowers and experts of their own experiences. While participants collectively identified existing dilemmas and practices, they also decided to actively think of ways to re-address and to positively transform these dilemmas and practices.
Methods of inquiry included the Aboriginal Circle paradigm that is interwoven with Phenomenological procedures. The Aboriginal Medicine Wheel was used as an organizational tool to illustrate and explain study findings, and Phenomenological procedures were used to explore the meanings participants append to their experiences. Both sharing circles and individual interviews were used to collect data from twenty-seven participants who were involved in the child welfare system at the time of the study. Some were living in Northern Ontario, others in a large city. Data were transcribed and Grounded Theory coding procedures used to analyze the data and identify themes. Four main themes emerged: Place of Understanding’, ‘Place of Disconnection’, ‘Place of Identification,’ and ‘Place of Reconnection’ to represent the sacred knowledge-making spaces where participants through the Reality Circle make sense of their contexts. The meanings that underpin each of these sacred spaces are discussed.
An analysis of the meanings of these four sacred spaces further describes how participants’ personal and social identities are juxtaposed in their cultural and child welfare contexts. Of interest is how participants’ child welfare experiences affect their cultural and parenting identities. Child welfare practices are interpreted in terms of parent, social work and First Nations Community responsibilities. A diagram depicting these responsibilities is presented as the ‘Anishinabe Identity Circle.’
The study is significant for the social work profession because an Anishinabe approach to ‘doing’ social work with this particular group of participants is developed and has implications for Aboriginal-based Theory and Aboriginal-based support and policies. Even though this is a small step towards changing some of the existing practices in the Child Welfare System, it may pave the way for larger and more constructive social changes for participants and their children in the future.
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Mahikwa, Robert. "The next chapter: a practical guide for individuals, families, communities, social workers, and organizations supporting indigenous youth aging-out of care." Thesis, 2018. https://dspace.library.uvic.ca//handle/1828/10396.
Full textAbstract:
This research utilized Indigenous methodologies rooted in oral traditions, storytelling practices, and the Medicine Wheel teachings to examine how individuals, families, communities, social workers, and organizations can assist Indigenous youth who are aging-out of foster care and are transitioning into adulthood. The methods of inquiry included five one-on-one Story-Sharing Sessions with Indigenous adults who previously aged-out of care in British Columbia, and two Talking Circles comprised of ten Community Helpers including Elders, Mentors, Educators, and Foster Parents; and fifteen Delegated Aboriginal Agency Social Workers who worked directly and/or indirectly with Indigenous youth in and from foster care. This research was person-centered, strengths-based, and solutions-focused, and re-framed ‘aging-out of care’ terminology as ‘a transition into adulthood’ to honour the sacred life-cycle teachings of the Medicine Wheel. The core aim of this research was to aid in the development of a highly adaptive practical guide and theoretical framework for supporting Indigenous youth in and from care.Graduate
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West, Juliana Margaret. "The Role of Social Work in Contemporary Colonial and Structurally Violent Processes: Speaking to Aboriginal Social Workers who had Child Welfare and/or Criminal Justice Involvement as Youth." 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1993/23854.
Full textAbstract:
As a relatively recent phenomenon, the increasing overrepresentation of Aboriginal persons in both the child welfare and criminal justice systems is of critical importance to the field of social work. As social control systems, how do social workers contribute to or mitigate against overrepresentation as contemporary colonialism? What can social work professionals who themselves have been through these systems add to our social work discourse? A sample of fifteen Aboriginal social workers who had as youth been in either one or both of these systems were interviewed with respect to: what they found was helpful or unhelpful in their interactions as youth with social workers, why they subsequently chose social work as a career, the supports and barriers they encountered along their career path, and the difference their experiences had for their own professional practice. Using structural social work theory, overrepresentation as a contemporary colonializing process was re-conceptualised as structural violence. Institutional Ethnography (IE) and Hermeneutic Phenomenology were used to explore how these neo-liberal ruling relations are produced, maintained, and potentially deconstructed. The findings from this unique population have implications for decolonizing social work practice, education, and research.
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Knudsgaard, Harald Bart. "How one becomes what one is: transformative journeys to allyship." Thesis, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/1828/11480.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis explores the phenomenon of Indigenous/non-Indigenous allyship. In this thesis, Indigenous child welfare leaders were interviewed regarding their perspectives on allyship and were asked to identify non-Indigenous leaders whom they consider allies. Through a storytelling methodology, these non-Indigenous leaders were interviewed regarding their journeys to allyship. As the researcher I employed thematic analysis of the interviews conducted to determine if there are patterns that suggest a process through which a non-Indigenous person becomes an ally. Analysis of the literature and the interviews conducted suggest critical processes that non-Indigenous leaders have undergone, and comprise a series of steps, in the journey to allyship. The research questions addressed in this thesis are:
(1) Are there process patterns or themes that emerge with the phenomenon of allyship?
(2) Is there a framework that can be identified that can inform a settler leader’s journey to becoming an ally?
The research findings suggest that there are essential process patterns that emerge with the phenomenon of allyship. Further, the findings suggest there is danger in suggesting a sequential or linear process for this journey of head, heart and spirit.Graduate
2020-12-19
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Breton, Alexandra. "Les enfants autochtones en protection de la jeunesse au Québec : leur réalité comparée à celle des autres enfants." Thèse, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/1866/5522.
Full textAbstract:
Les populations autochtones canadiennes ont un passé difficile qui influence leur vécu actuel. Les recherches canadiennes et ailleurs dans le monde s’entendent sur la surreprésentation des enfants autochtones en protection de l’enfance. Au Canada, la surreprésentation s’explique présentement par la présence de conditions de vie dégradées plutôt qu’en raison d’un traitement différentiel des services de protection à l’égard des enfants autochtones. La présente étude ajoute aux connaissances sur les mauvais traitements et la réponse des services de protection de la jeunesse aux enfants autochtones québécois en s’intéressant à trois questions : leur surreprésentation, leurs différences par rapport aux autres enfants et les prédicteurs du placement. D’abord, à partir des données administratives de la protection de la jeunesse, la surreprésentation des enfants autochtones est évaluée à trois étapes des services : les signalements retenus, les situations fondées et les placements. Les enfants autochtones et les autres enfants sont comparés sur un ensemble de caractéristiques personnelles, familiales, parentales des signalements et des services rendus. Les prédicteurs du placement des enfants desservis par la protection de la jeunesse sont enfin vérifiés, en portant une attention particulière à l’importance du statut autochtone dans cette prédiction. Les résultats révèlent une augmentation de la surreprésentation des enfants autochtones d’une étape à l’autre des services de protection considérés. Ces enfants ont plus souvent des conditions de vie difficiles et sont confrontés à davantage de facteurs de risque que les autres enfants. Le statut autochtone est important dans la prédiction du placement, même après l’ajout d’un ensemble de caractéristiques pouvant contribuer à la prédiction. La complexité d’accès aux services de première ligne dans les communautés autochtones ou l’influence d’une variable non considérée, telle la pauvreté matérielle et économique, constituent de possibles explications. Les implications pour la recherche et la pratique sont discutées.Canadian Aboriginal populations have for a while experienced difficulties that influence their actual lives. Research in Canada and elsewhere in the world acknowledges the overrepresentation of aboriginal children in child welfare services. In Canada, the overrepresentation of aboriginal children in child welfare services is mostly explained by the existence of risky life conditions rather than by the hypothesis of differential treatment of aboriginal children by child welfare. The actual study adds knowledge concerning child maltreatment in the aboriginal children population and the way Québec child welfare responds to aboriginal children by an examination of their overrepresentation, their differences with other children and the predictors of out-of-home placement. Using administrative data of Québec child welfare services, the overrepresentation of aboriginal children is first verified at three steps of the child welfare trajectory: the retained reports, the substantiated cases and the out-of-home placements. Aboriginal children are compared with other children on personal, family, parental and services characteristics. Predictors of out-of-home placement for children receiving child welfare services are finally investigated, with a specific attention to the aboriginal status in that prediction. Results reveal an increase in the overrepresentation of aboriginal children as they progress in the different steps of child protective services trajectory. These children live more often with hard life conditions and have to face more risk factors than other children. The importance of aboriginal status in out-of-home placement decisions remains substantial, even when many other characteristics increasing out-of-home placement risks are added. The complexities to access primary care in aboriginal communities or the influence of an unmeasured variable, such as material or economic poverty are possible explanations. Implications for research and practice are discussed.
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Robillard, Pascale. "L’intervention sociojudiciaire et socioprotectionnelle en contexte atikamekw : étude des représentations des intervenants." Thèse, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1866/21974.
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