Family Court Diversion Project (Collaborative Research with Ka Ni Kanichihk Inc.)

Jumping Through Hoops: A Manitoba Study Examining Experiences and Reflections of Aboriginal Mothers Involved with the Child Welfare and Legal Systems Respecting Child Protection Matters.
by Marlyn Bennett, Director of Research, FNCFCS, Winnipeg, MB

The Director of the First Nations Research Site oversaw community-based research project focusing on the development of collaborative responses to understanding and developing appropriate actions to address the disproportionate representation of Aboriginal women and children involved in the child protection system in Manitoba. This project, spearheaded by Ka Ni Kanichihk Inc. and other community-based organizations jointly identified Aboriginal women and children's involvement with the child protection system as a concern among Aboriginal women who report feelings of confusion and isolation when interacting with the child protection system and lack confidence to maneuver their way through the court processes which they find intimidating and devaluing. Aboriginal women have also reported that they do not find support through existing services, either because they feel these services are not appropriate or sensitive, or because the services lack capacity to respond to their needs. This project is overseen by a Steering Committee comprised of experts from the legal, child and family services professions, and other non-profit community-based organizations working with Aboriginal women in Manitoba.

Abstract:

In recent years, courts have increasingly moved toward the implementation of alternative responses for non violent crimes such as mediation, diversion, restorative practices and sentencing circles before considering the justice system. Unfortunately, the child welfare system has not instituted these same types of approaches despite the fact that Aboriginal women and their children are overrepresented in child welfare and family court processes Alternative, non-adversarial approaches (like Family Group Conferencing for example) have been promoted within the area of family law and child welfare in other provinces and countries (for instance, the Province of British Columbia has statutory family conferencing and mediation provisions, see Section 22 of its Child & Family Services Act). However, such alternative measures and procedures unfortunately are not mandated, enshrined or practiced through Manitoba’s child welfare legislation. Moreover, very little research exists regarding Aboriginal mothers’ experiences with the child welfare and court systems in Manitoba. Ka Ni Kanichihk Inc., an urban Aboriginal organization in Winnipeg undertook a review of the experiences of Aboriginal mothers involved with child welfare in Manitoba with the intent of eventually implementing alternative dispute resolutions for Aboriginal mothers/families. This paper describes the experiences of Aboriginal mothers and grandmothers dealing with the Manitoba child welfare system and family courts regarding child protection matters. Jumping through hoops is a prominent perspective that emerged from the Aboriginal mothers’ stories and reflections about their experiences with child welfare and family court systems. Specifically, this report provides a demographic overview of the mothers and grandmothers involved in this study and ends with a number of solutions identified by the mothers and grandmothers about how the child welfare and family court systems can be improved to work better for Aboriginal women and children. While these recommendations appear to advocate “tinkering” with the system, it may be partially due to the fact that Aboriginal mothers (and arguably extends to social workers’) lack of knowledge about the range of alternative dispute mechanisms available. The research methods in this study draw upon interviews and talking circles conducted with Aboriginal women, as well as interviews conducted with community advocates and lawyers (who represented Aboriginal mothers in child protection matters) during the months of March to June 2007.

Executive Summary	(420 KB, 10 pages)
Full Report	(2.0 MB, 171 pages)

A Regional Qualitative Study on Child Welfare Outcomes in Ontario

This 3 year project is a joint initiative between the Association of Native Child and Family Services Agencies of Ontario, the University of Manitoba and the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society, which received a $10,000 grant to further develop a research approach looking at child welfare outcomes from an Aboriginal perspective. Two widely based measurement tools (Looking After Children (LAC) and the Outcome Indicator Matrix) have yet to be thoroughly examined in an Aboriginal context. As part of Ontario's Child Welfare Transformation Agenda, the LAC tools are to be fully implemented for use in all Children's Aid Societies by 2007. As a result, this project will examine outcome measures, especially in relation to tools such as LAC and the Outcomes Matrix to increase effectiveness of measuring child and family outcomes within an Aboriginal context and enhance the utilization of this information to improving decision making and Aboriginal child and family well-being. The FNRS and Dr. Brad McKenzie of the University of Manitoba assisted the Association of Native Child & Family Services (ANCFSAO) with preparing a Grant-in-Aid proposal submitted to the Ministry of Children & Youth Services in Ontario in December 2005. ANCFSAO was granted $10,000 to develop its research proposal further in January 2006. The $10,000 grant-in-aid assisted the co researchers and ANCFSAO with proceeding to the "Letter of Intent" stage. The Director of the FNRS and Dr. McKenzie will assist ANCFSAO with strengthening the research focus and methodologies to be used in conducting research on child welfare outcomes for Aboriginal children in the care of 5 First Nations Child Welfare agencies in the Province of Ontario. The agencies involved in this research are Dilico Ojibway CFS, Native Child and Family Services of Toronto, Payukotayno James and Hudson Bay Family Services, Weechi-it-te-win Family Services and Anishinaabe Abinoojii Family Services. These agencies will be involved in piloting an examination into the usefulness and effectiveness of the Child Welfare Outcome Indicator Matrix and Looking After Children (LAC) frameworks for Aboriginal families and children involved with child welfare. Our Research Team consists of Betty Kennedy (AFCFSAO), Brad McKenzie (University of Manitoba), Marlyn Bennett (FNCFCS), Lyn Miller (AFCFSAO) and Nico Trocme (McGill University). The team has been invited to submit a full proposal for funding consideration to the Ontario Ministry of Child and Youth Services and are currently awaiting the outcome of the Ministry's decision to funding this initiative.

Stress, Coping and the Impact on Parenting in the Downtown Residential Communities of Winnipeg: Interview, Focus Group and Online Survey Results

Through the First Nations Research Site, the Communities 4 Family Downtown Parent-Child Coalition (“Communities 4 Families”) conducted community based interviews, focus group sessions and an online survey to examine the sources of stress experienced by parents residing in the downtown residential communities of Winnipeg, including ways parents cope and how these stressors and ways of coping impacted on parenting. This report seeks to fill a gap in the research on understanding the stressors experienced by parents and families living in the downtown residential communities of Winnipeg.

Research Methodology
The research methodology utilized a mixed methods approach focusing on a variety of data sources using qualitative and quantitative tools. Information from parents residing in the downtown residential communities of Winnipeg was gathered one of three ways:

1. Through Personal Interviews with parents living in the downtown residential communities of Winnipeg (Interviews were conducted throughout the months of July 2007 through February 2008);
2. Through 7 Roundtable Discussions with parents in various downtown residential community locations (held during September 2007 through February 2008); and
3. Through a 15 minute Anonymous Online Survey targeting downtown residential community parents (conducted through Survey Monkey from July to October 2007).

This report focuses on the aggregate (collective) findings from the personal interviews, roundtable of focus group discussions held during the period from July 2007 to February 2008 and the aggregate results of the online survey. The study’s findings and results can also be found on the Communities 4 Families’ website located at http://communities4families.ca.

Stress, Coping and the Impact on Parenting in the Downtown Residential Communities of Winnipeg Interview, Focus Group and Online Survey Results, April 2008 Prepared for the Communities 4 Families Downtown Parent-Child Coalition Prepared by Marlyn Bennett, First Nations Child & Family Caring Society of Canada
Executive Summary	(164 KB, 8 pages)
Full Report	(1.8 MB, 108 pages)

Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect 2003

A paper on the challenges and successes involved in collecting data from First Nations Child and Family Service agencies who participated in the 2003 Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Maltreatment was co-written by Marlyn Bennett and Corbin Shangreaux. The Director of Researcher for the FNRS has presented the contents of this paper at two conferences regarding the feedback on the CIS II process with the First Nations CFS participants. The first presentation was at the Aboriginal Policy and Research Dialogue Conference in Vancouver, BC, in February 7-10, 2006 and the second was at the Aboriginal Policy Research Conference in Ottawa, ON, March 20-23, 2006. The paper has been accepted for publication in a 2 volume book being published jointly by the University of Western Ontario and INAC and will be summarized in a quarterly publication produced by the Centre for Native Policy and Research in Vancouver.

In addition, Marlyn Bennett attended with Nico Trocmé and Corbin Shangreaux at the Weechi-it-te-win Family Service agency in Fort Francis, Ontario to present and discuss the Aboriginal data findings set out in CIS II at the end of April 2006.

Aboriginal Child Welfare Literature Review

The FNRS is responsible for updating the Literature Review and Annotated Bibliography on Aspects of Aboriginal Child Welfare in Canada. The second issue of this publication by Marlyn Bennett, Cindy Blackstock and Richard De La Ronde was completed in February 2005 and is available for free from this website.

No further editions of the annotated literature review will be forthcoming. The Caring Society will continue to monitor the emerging literature on Aboriginal child welfare issues and will continue to annotate any new material as it become available. New annotated information will continue to be posted on in the Caring Society's online searchable database.

University of Manitoba Collaborations

In April 2004 the Director of the First Nations Research Site received professional affiliation with the Faculty of Social Work from the University of Manitoba which allows the FNRS to access all of the university's library, online, and facility resources in the course of conducting research in partnership with the University of Manitoba. The FNRS was graciously housed and supported by the University of Manitoba in our initial start up. In turn, the FNRS continues to work collaboratively with the university through involvement with a number of different programs, activities, and courses.

For the last two years the First Nations Research Site's Director participated on a panel of external practitioners who provided feedback to students presenting various position papers on criminal justice issues in a Faculty of Social Work course called "Field/Focus of Social Work Practice: Criminal Justice," taught by Denis Bracken.

The Director also participated in RESOLVE's Research Day which featured a wide range of research topics and presentations over 6 concurrent sessions over the course of one day. This event took place at the University of Manitoba. RESOLVE is a research partnership between the Universities of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta on issues of sexual and domestic violence against women and children. Topics covered during this one day event included: Woman Abuse, Aboriginal Programs, Children's Issues, Exploitation in the Sex Trade, the Justice System, and Men's Programs were covered in these sessions. The FNRS Director of Research chaired the morning stream of programs focused on innovative Aboriginal programming within the City of Winnipeg.

Training and Community Involvement

Over 2005-2006, the Director of Research for the FNRS has taken part in the following training opportunities which were offered through Volunteer Manitoba:

• Effective Group Facilitation Skills (Level 1)
• Ten Steps to Managing a Successful Event
• Understanding Program Evaluation
• Effective Training and Facilitation Skills (Level 2)

Networking and Partnerships

The Director of the FNRS continues to participate in child welfare related committees and editorial boards. Responsibilities include attending meetings or participating in regularly scheduled teleconferences, reviewing submissions and articles for publication, and strategizing future research initiatives. The Director participates on the following committees and boards:

• Envision: The Manitoba Journal of Child Welfare
• Manitoba Strategy on Child & Youth Sexual Exploitation (Province of Manitoba)
• Intersecting Sites of Violence in the Lives of Girls (McGill University Project)
• The Family Court Diversion Project (Ka Ni Kanichihk Inc. in partnership with other community based organizations in Manitoba)
• Child Find Manitoba Advisory Committee (Kids in the Know Safety Curriculum)
• Prairie Child Welfare Consortium (a tri-provincial, university and child welfare agency consortium from the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba)
• Animikii Ozoson Child & Family Services Inc. (Southern First Nations CFS Authority)
• RESOLVE (Research and Education for Solutions to Violence and Abuse) - a partnership between the Universities of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta on issues of domestic violence