New approaches to child welfare are urgently needed to address the over-representation of certain groups among children in child welfare care. These approaches must be informed by good research and take full account of cultural and linguistic needs and experiences of historical and contemporary institutional racism which place children and their families at higher risk for child welfare intervention. Recognizing this need, the Journal of Law and Social Policy (JLSP), Osgoode Hall Law School, the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, the African Canadian Legal Clinic, and The Action Group on Access to Justice are pleased to host a symposium, “Re-imagining Child Welfare Systems in Canada.” The symposium will bring together academics, practitioners, community-based organizations and those with lived experience to foster conversation, deepen analyses, and re-imagine radically different child welfare systems.
The Symposium will feature keynote speaker Cindy Blackstock, Executive Director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Toronto, and lunchtime speaker Kike Ojo, project lead of “One Vision One Voice: Changing the Child Welfare System for African Canadians.”
Panels throughout the day will address issues such as:
- the implications of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal decision in the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society case for self-government in child welfare;
- community-based and community-led models that draw upon culturally-based knowledge;
- the importance of good data; and
- the complex interplay between child welfare involvement and systems of oppression.
The symposium will be held October 21, 2016 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in room 1014 Osgoode (Helliwell Centre).