Aboriginal Grandmothers Caring for Grandchildren: Located in a Policy Gap
Abstract
This article argues that the Saskatchewan child welfare system is providing fragmented, inconsistent, and insufficient support to Aboriginal Grandmothers caring for grandchildren. This article is based on a Participatory Action Research project grounded in Indigenous epistemologies, which involved Aboriginal Grandmothers caring for grandchildren. Traditionally, child rearing was an expected and well-supported role of Aboriginal Grandmothers. Today the situation is very different. The Aboriginal Grandmothers involved in this project are carrying the responsibility rearing their grandchildren because the parents’ cannot. As a result of colonial policies and practices, in particular the Residential School policy and the ““Sixties Scoop”,” many Aboriginal families are facing situations of crisis and ill health, such as drug or alcohol abuse, domestic abuse, and incarceration. Further, these Aboriginal Grandmothers are not provided with sufficient and consistent financial support from the child welfare system. Community services and supports for Aboriginal Grandmothers are also lacking and those available are often difficult to access. Also, many Grandmothers expressed fear and distrust of the child welfare system and some related experiences where they felt judged or bullied. On November 9th of 2009, the Saskatchewan government announced that they would be conducting an extensive review of the province’s child welfare system. As a part of this review, the Grandmothers caring for grandchildren Support Network took their concerns to the committee. While the report has not been released to the public yet, we hope that this report will lead to policies that better support Aboriginal Grandmothers so that they and their children can access what they need to live a healthy life.References
Aboriginal Healing Foundation. From truth to reconciliation: Transforming the legacy of Residential Schools. Ottawa, ONT: Aboriginal Healing Foundation, 2008.
---Final report of the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. Volume I: A Healing Journey: Reclaiming Wellness. Ottawa ONT: Aboriginal Healing Foundation. 2006.
Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada (ANAC). Cultural competence and cultural safety in nursing education: A framework for First Nations, Inuit and Métis nursing. Ottawa, ONT: Aboriginal Nurses Association of Canada, 2009.
Absolon, Kathy and Cam Willet. “Putting ourselves forward: Location in Aboriginal research” in Research as resistance: Critical, Indigenous & anti-oppressive approaches edited by Leslie Brown and Susan Strega, 97-126. Toronto, ONT: Canadian Scholar’s Press/Women’s Press, 2005.
Ahenakew, Freda and H.C. Wolfart (eds.) Kôhkominawak otâcimowiniwawa: Our grandmothers’ lives as told in their own words. Regina SK: Canadian Plains Research Centre, 2000.
Alberta. Children and Youth Services. “Kinship care review report,” November 2009. http://www.child.alberta.ca (accessed September 20, 2010).
Anderson, Kim. A Recognition of Being: Reconstructing Native Womanhood. Toronto ONT: Sumach Press, 2000.
Annett, Kevin. Love and death in the valley: Awakening to hidden histories and forgotten crimes on the west coast of Canada. Bloomington, IN: Authorhouse, 2002.
Badgely, Christopher, Loretta Young, and Anne Scully. International and transracial adoptions: A mental health perspective. Avebury, England: Ashgate Publishing House, 1993.
Bennett, Marlyn, Blackstock, Cindy and Richard De La Ronde. A literature review and annotated bibliography on aspects of Aboriginal child welfare in Canada. 2nd Edition. First Nations Research Site of the Centre of Excellence for Child Welfare and The First Nations Child & Family Caring Society of Canada, 2005. http://www.accel-capea.ca/pdf/childwelfarelitreview.pdf< (accessed October 7, 2010).
Blackstock, Cindy. “Reconciliation means not saying sorry twice: Lessons from child welfare in Canada” in From truth to reconciliation: Transforming the legacy of Residential Schools edited by Aboriginal Healing Foundation, 164-178, Ottawa, ONT: Aboriginal Healing Foundation, 2008.
Bourassa, Carrie, Hampton, Mary and Kim McKay-McNabb. “Racism, sexism, and colonialism: The impact on the health of Aboriginal women in Canada” Canadian Woman Studies Vol. 24 no. 1 (Fall 2004): 23-29.
Canada. An Act to Amend the Indian Act. 1920.
Canada. Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Highlights from the report. Ottawa, ONT: Minister of Supply and Services Canada, 1996. http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ap/rrc-eng.asp (accessed October 14, 2010).
CBC News, “Child welfare needs overhaul: Study chair” CBC News, July 30, 2010. http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2010/07/30/sk-child-welfare-pringle-10730.html< (accessed October 1, 2010).
Child Welfare Review. “Home” http://saskchildwelfarereview.ca/ (accessed October 19, 2010).
---“Purpose/Mandate” http://saskchildwelfarereview.ca/ (accessed October 19, 2010).
--- Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Report. 5 vols. Ottawa: Minister of Supply and Services Canada, 1996. http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ap/rrc-eng.asp (accessed October 3, 2010).
Davin, Nicholas Flood. Report on industrial schools for Indians and Half-Breeds. Ottawa, ONT: Canada, 1879, http://canadiana.org/record/03651 (accessed October 1, 2010).
Dornstauder, Frank and David Macknak. “100 years of child welfare services in Saskatchewan: A survey,” 2009. http://www.sasw.ca/CW/100-ChildWelfarePaper.pdf (accessed October 17, 2010).
Emberly, Julia V. Defamiliarizing the Aboriginal: Cultural practices and decolonization in Canada. Toronto, ONT: University of Toronto Press, 2007
Fuller-Thomson, Esme. “Canadian First Nations grandparents raising grandchildren: A portrait in resilience.” International Journal of Aging and Human Development, 60 vol. 4 (2005): 331-342.
Hammill, Jan. 2001. “Granny rights: Combatting the granny burnout syndrome among Australian Indigenous communities” Development. 44 no. 2 (2001): 69-74.
Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada (IPAC). “First Nations, Inuit, Métis health core competencies: A curriculum framework for undergraduate medical education,” 2008. http://www.ipac-amic.org< (accessed October 5, 2010).
Johnston, Patrick Native children and the child welfare system. Toronto, ONT: Canadian Council on Social Development in association with James Lorimer & Company Publishers, 1983.
Kelly, Fred. “Confessions of a born again pagan” in From truth to reconciliation: Transforming the legacy of Residential Schools edited by Aboriginal Healing Foundation, 11-42, Ottawa, ONT: Aboriginal Healing Foundation, 2008.
Kemmis, Stephen, & McTaggart, Robin. “Participatory action research” in Handbook of qualitative research, edited by Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln, 2nd ed., 567-605. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publishing, 2000.
Kovach, Margaret. “Emerging from the margins: Indigenous methodologies” in Research as resistance: Critical, Indigenous & anti-oppressive approaches edited by Leslie Brown and Susan Strega, 19-36. Toronto, ONT: Canadian Scholar’s Press/Women’s Press, 2005.
Manitoba. The Aboriginal Justice Implementation Commission. Report, 1991. http://www.ajic.mb.ca/volume.html (accessed October 10, 2010).
McTaggart, Robin. “Reading the Collection” in Participatory Action Research: International Context and Consequences edited by Robin McTaggart, 1-24. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1997.
National Aboriginal Health Organization (NAHO). “Fact Sheet: Cultural Safety,” January 31, 2006. http://www.naho.ca (accessed online October 10, 2010).
O’ Conner, Shirley, Monture, Patricia, and Norissa O’Conner. “Grandmothers, mothers, and Daughters” Canadian Woman Studies 10 no. 2/3 (1989): 38-40.
Richardson, Cathy and Bill Nelson. <“A change of residence: Government schools and foster homes as sites of forced Aboriginal assimilation – A paper designed to provoke thought and systemic change” First Peoples child & family review 3 no. 2 (2007): 75-83.
Saskatchewan Child Welfare Review. “Saskatchewan Child Welfare Review.” 2010 http://www/saskchildwelfarereview.ca (accessed September 18, 2010)
Saskatchewan. Ministry of Social Services. “Children’s Services Policy and Procedures Manual,” April 2010a. http://www.socialservices.gov.sk.ca/ (accessed September 18, 2010).
---Ministry of Social Services. “2007-2008 Annual Report.” http://www.socialservices.gov.sk.ca/< (accessed October 12, 2010).
---Ministry of Social Services. “2008-2009 Annual Report.” http://www.socialservices.gov.sk.ca/ (accessed October 12, 2010).
---Ministry of Social Services “Did you know?” 2010b. http://www.socialservices.gov.sk.ca< (accessed October 10, 2010)
Saskatchewan Women's Secretariat. Profile of Aboriginal Women in Saskatchewan. Regina: Saskatchewan Women's Secretariat, 1999.
SAHO/CUPE Provincial Employment Strategy Committee “Annual Report,” 2006. www.pescsahocupe.com/yearend06.doc (accessed October 18, 2010).
Potts, Karen and Leslie Brown “Becoming an anti-oppressive researcher” in Research as resistance: Critical, Indigenous & anti-oppressive approaches edited by Leslie Brown and Susan Strega, 255-286. Toronto, ONT: Canadian Scholar’s Press/Women’s Press, 2005.
Sinclair, Raven. “Identity lost and found: Lessons from the “Sixties Scoop”” First Peoples child & family review 3 no. 1 (2007): 65-82.
Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and indigenous peoples. Dunedin NZ: University of Otago Press, 1999.
--- “On tricky ground: Researching the Native in the age of uncertainty” in The Sage handbook of qualitative research edited by Norman K. Denzin and Yvonna S. Lincoln, 3rd Edition, 85-108. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc., 2005.
St. Denis, Verna. “Community-based participatory research: Aspects of the concept relevant for practice” Native Studies Review, 8 no 2 (1992): 51-74.
Strauss, Anselm L. and Juliet Corbin. Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications Inc., 1998.
Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples. London: Zed Books, 1999.
Smith, Linda Tuhiwai. On Tricky Ground: Researching the Native in the Age of Uncertainty. 2005.
United Nations. “Draft United Nations declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, 1994.” http://www.unhchr.ch/huridocda/huridoca.nsf/(Symbol)/E.CN.4.SUB.2.RES.1994.45.en< (accessed October 14, 2010).
