1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«The purpose of this chapter is to explore issues specific to Indigenous youth leaving care in Canada. Indigenous youth contend with specific struggles, many of which are related to colonial policies that destroyed the fabric of healthy Indigenous family systems. The chapter will therefore examine Indigenous forms of caregiving and kinship, the ways that colonial policies, such as the residential school system and the “Sixties Scoop,” have disrupted these systems, and provide an analysis of how issues pertaining to youth leaving care differ for Indigenous youth. It will end by providing a way forward to start reversing the pattern of imposing colonial concepts of family and caregiving on Indigenous families.» (p. 243)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
Données documentaires diverses

Type de traitement des données :
Réflexion critique

3. Résumé

Authors argue that «[c]onsidering Indigenous ways of caring for children should be at the base of any child welfare reform. The damage caused by colonial institutional care wanted to dismantle Indigenous kinship relations supporting them as Peoples, in favor of relations that supported the settler-state. Thus, restoring Indigenous ways of being, caring, and living must be a major pathway toward the well-being of Indigenous children, families, and communities. Best practices are emerging, and legislative models for the delivery of child welfare services to Indigenous communities are proposed as an alternative to a system that is not delivering.» (p. 254) Moreover, a «study by Fast (Fast, Trocmé, Fallon, & Ma, 2014) confirmed the strong need for the Indigenous youth aging out of care to connect with their roots and their family relationships. As a defining principle for indigeneity, kinship implies active participation as part of the twofold being/doing relationship […] and, in the words of Justice, requires an “attentive care […] to the ongoing processes of balanced rights and responsibilities” […]. When thinking of Indigenous youth placed in/aging out of home care, the question of identity and the associated the rights and responsibilities embedded in the specific kin relationships is of foremost importance.» (p. 247)