1. Objectifs

Intentions :
In this study, authors «asked lawyers, social workers and judges in child welfare in Quebec for their perceptions of Indigenous parents’ experiences with the system [of child welfare] and their recommendations for change.» (p. 560)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
For this study, «interviews took place with six lawyers, four social workers and two judges. One is from Val-d’Or, the rest from Montreal, Quebec.» (p. 563)

Instruments :
Guide d’entretien semi-directif

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse de contenu

3. Résumé

«The first major theme from [the] results concerns the difficulties of parents and other Indigenous people in working with the state’s system of child welfare. [P]articipants work in a system that they concede to be broken and harmful […]. They spoke about child welfare’s colonial impact and Indigenous parents’ feelings of defeat, shame and mistrust when dealing with it. They commented on the linguistic capacity of Indigenous parents and troubles in accessing interpreters.» (p. 565) «The second principal theme bears on the workers in child welfare. [P]articipants voiced concerns about the paucity of Indigenous employees and the lack of knowledge about Indigenous history and culture, especially family practices. In a way that may reveal their premises about the scope of foreseeable change, they spoke time and again about the need for better education and training for professionals.» (p. 568) The authors recommend that «judges should wait for interpreters where they are needed; the government should work with Indigenous communities to train and fund more interpreters; the formal and informal criteria for screening Indigenous foster families should reflect their communities’ realities; the government should work with community organizations to offer Indigenous parents accompaniment in court [and] professionals in child protection should receive training about Indigenous family practices and communicative norms, as well as about the abiding effects of colonialism.» (p. 571)