Just over half of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care live with a kinship carer. Targets aim to increase this proportion. But what is kinship care?
People who have lived experience in child welfare systems have
higher rates of homelessness. A homeless tent is seen in a park in Saint-Jerome, Que. on Jan. 25, 2024.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi
Canada needs to focus on tracking, monitoring and evaluating the economic, health and social outcomes of former youth in care, especially as they transition from government care.
Native American children are still disproportionately represented in the U.S. child welfare system.
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Native American families have endured generations of systematic child removal, but the grief, loss and trauma that birth mothers still experience have been largely overlooked.
Wiping away tears, Nita Battise, vice chairperson of the tribal council of the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe of Texas, reacts to the Supreme Court ruling upholding a law that gives Native American families priority in adoptions and foster care placements of tribal children.
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A Supreme Court ruling has upheld the right of Congress to pass laws about Native American tribes’ rights to self-government.
Ontario’s moratorium on youth leaving care once they turn 18 expires on March 31, 2023, with a redesigned policy coming into effect on April 1.
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Ontario’s new policy on youth leaving care comes into effect April 1. While the policy provides welcomed support for youth, there are still gaps that need to be addressed.
Rather than policing or separating families, a new collaborative movement born in the US seeks to find better ways to support children, families and communities.
ParentsNext requires the parents of very young children to perform monitored activities in return for Centrelink payments. Eve Vincent talks to single mothers about ‘the indignity of investigation’.
We surveyed 232 foster and kinship carers who had provided care to a baby in out-of-home care sometime in the last five years. Many were not well supported to care for babies.
Children and youth in care often have complex health and social issues, but they often struggle to access comprehensive health care.
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Children and youth in care are more likely to have experienced trauma that can affect future health. A comprehensive, trauma-informed health strategy for these children and youth is long overdue.
Tehassi Hill, tribal chairman of the Oneida Nation, stands outside a U.S. appeals court in 2019 after arguments in a case that has made its way to the Supreme Court.
AP Photo/Kevin McGill
A case before the Supreme Court will determine whether a federal law meant to protect Native American children from being forcibly removed from their families is constitutional.
Keeping families that are enduring hard times together is hard but usually benefits children.
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Despite a series of federal measures requiring greater efforts to preserve family unity, many policies make life harder for people swept up in the system.
Children are removed from families and placed in care when we think they are being harmed or their needs neglected. But data shows the vast majority aren’t getting recommended health care.
AFN Regional Chief Cindy Woodhouse and Indigenous Services Minister Patty Hajdu listen to Crown-Indigenous Relations Minister Marc Miller as he responds to a question during a news conference on Jan. 4, 2022, in Ottawa.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Anne Levesque, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
In the next year, public support will be needed more than ever to ensure that the spirit of the agreement is respected and translated into meaningful change for First Nations children.
Reinvesting some of the $2 billion Ontario is spending could keep more families together.
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For youth under state guardianship the state has assumed the role of the parent. But state parenting falls short of how most people would treat their children.
Public spending aimed at reducing poverty can lead to deep reductions in child maltreatment and could improve overall child well-being.
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Henry T. Puls, University of Missouri-Kansas City and Paul J. Chung, University of California, Los Angeles
Public investments in benefit programs could save tens of thousands of children from being victims of child abuse and have important later-life effects on child welfare and overall health.
Unaccompanied immigrant minors wait for Border Patrol processing after they crossed the Rio Grande into Roma, Texas, April 29, 2021.
John Moore/Getty Images
A record 95,079 child migrants had arrived alone at the US’s southern border by July this year. The US is legally responsible for these children, but it is struggling to give them adequate care.
Finances are a significant barrier to post-secondary education for people raised in care.
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Education is a key to health, economic and social outcomes. So why don’t we make it easier for former youth in care to access post-secondary education?