Indigenous child welfare

Canada’s Indigenous child welfare system is currently undergoing major long-term reform, prompted by a series of landmark rulings by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (CHRT), which in 2016 found that First Nations children were being systematically discriminated against due to chronic federal underfunding. The federal government was ordered to stop its discriminatory practices, to fully implement Jordan’s Principle and to reform the First Nations Child and Family Services program.

An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families (also known as Bill C‐92) took effect on January 1, 2020, giving authority to First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities to pass their own child and family services laws.

First Nations children have consistently been overrepresented in Canada’s child welfare systems, which is a reflection of enduring structural inequities, systemic discrimination policies and the legacy of colonial assimilation that has limited the resources needed for First Nations children, families and communities to thrive. According to the most recent First Nations/Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect, First nations children are 3.6 times more likely to be investigated by child welfare authorities and up to 17.2 times more likely to be placed in out-of-home care during an initial investigation compared to non-Indigenous children.

For more information, see:

Statistics

The estimates presented here are from the 2019 national study that collected investigation data from a large number of First Nations and urban Indigenous agencies. All results must be interpreted with caution.

Interpretations must take into account the context and structure of First Nations child welfare. Denouncing The Continued Overrepresentation Of First Nations Children In Canadian Child Welfare: Findings From The First Nations/Canadian Incidence Study Of Reported Child Abuse And Neglect-2019 (Fallon et al., 2021) for a contextualized summary of the findings. The data presented here are weighted estimates; for information regarding the FN/CIS weighting procedure see the executive summary and appendices.

Child Maltreatment Investigations, First Nations (status and non-status) and Non-Indigenous Children
	First Nations Children	Non-Indigenous Children
Number of child maltreatment investigations	45,918	241,137
Incidence of child maltreatment investigations per 1,000 children	151	42.11

Type of Child Maltreatment Investigations in 2019 for First Nations (status and non-status) and Non-Indigenous Children
	First Nations		Non-Indigenous
	Number of children	Rate per 1,000	Number of children	Rate per 1,000
Maltreatment incident Investigation	32,328	106.31	168,570	29.44
Risk Investigation	13,590	44.69	72,567	12.67

Level of Substantiation in Child Maltreatment Investigations in 2019 for First Nations (status and non-status) and Non-Indigenous Children
	First Nations		Non-Indigenous
	Number of children	Rate per 1,000	Number of children	Rate per 1,000
Substantiated	19,143	62.95	76,899	13.43
Suspected	2,190	7.20	9,995	1.75
Unfounded	10,950	36.01	81,676	14.26

Primary Categories of Substantiated Child Maltreatment Investigations in 2019 for First Nations (status and non-status) and Non-Indigenous Children
	First Nations		Non-Indigenous
Category of Maltreatment	Number of children	Rate per 1,000	Number of children	Rate per 1,000
Physical Abuse	1,570	5.16	14,459	2.53
Sexual Abuse	587	1.93	2,108	0.37
Neglect	8,400	27.62	18,600	3.25
Emotional Maltreatment	1,780	5.85	10,941	1.91
Exposure to Intimate Partner Violence	6,806	22.38	30,791	5.38

Placement in Child Maltreatment Investigations in 2019 for First Nations and Non-Indigenous Children
	First Nations		Non-Indigenous
	Number of children	Rate per 1,000	Number of children	Rate per 1,000
Informal Placement (Kinship Out of Care and Customary Care)	2,365	7.78	4,798	0.84
Kinship in Care	1,589	5.23	545	0.10
Foster Care (Non-kinship)	1,775	5.84	2,677	0.47
Group Home/Residential or Secure Treatment	207	0.68	757	0.13
Other Placement (e.g., places of safety)	205	0.67	153	0.03
Subtotal: Placement Made	6,141	20.20	8,930	1.56
No Placement Made	39,776	130.81	232,207	40.55
Total Investigations	45,917	151.00	241,137	42.11

References

* Source: Fallon, B., Lefebvre, R., Trocmé, N., Richard, K., Hélie, S., Montgomery, M., Bennett, M., Joh-Carnella, N., Saint-Girons, M., Filippelli, J., MacLaurin, B., Black, T., Esposito, T., King, B., Collin-Vézina, D., Dallaire, R., Gray, R., Levi, J., Orr, M., Petti, T., Thomas Prokop, S., & Soop, S. (2021) Denouncing the Continued Overrepresentation of First Nations Children in Canadian Child Welfare: Findings from the First Nations/Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect-2019. Ontario: Assembly of First Nations.

Publications

Title	Year
Information Sheet Social Identification of Race in Canada Fact Sheet	2023
Other Social Identification of Race in Canada Policy Brief	2023
Information Sheet Alberta's child welfare system, 2022	2022
Information Sheet Caregiver characteristics in off reserve investigations involving First Nations children aged 0-17 in Canada in 2019	2022
Information Sheet Caregiver characteristics in on reserve investigations involving First Nations children aged 0-17 in Canada in 2019	2022
Information Sheet Child characteristics in on reserve investigations involving First Nations children aged 0-17 in Canada in 2019	2022
Journal article Indigenous Service Provider Perspectives of an Online Education Module to Support Safe Clinical Encounters about Family Violence in Canada	2022
Report Interventions for the Prevention of Family Violence in Indigenous Populations Policy Brief	2022
Information Sheet Investigation and placement types in off reserve investigations involving First Nations children aged 0-17 in Canada in 2019	2022
Information Sheet Ontario’s child welfare system, 2022	2022

Legislation

Aboriginal child welfare services are provided in accordance with provincial/territorial legislation, as allowed by Section 88 of the Indian Act (1985). Child welfare services fall under the jurisdiction of provincial and territorial authorities. As a result, each province and territory has different legislation pertaining to child protection interventions. For more information click here.

Child welfare services on-reserve are funded through Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada and subject to the regulations within the First Nations Child and Family Services section of the National Social Program Manual (last updated 2012).

Links

Indigenous child welfare

References

National

Provincial

International