In conducting a literature review for SOWK 693: Research as a Foundation for Leadership, my research questions asked what interventions are effective for Indigenous children and families working with family preservation programs within the context of child welfare organizations? One significant theme that arose was the need for culturally based community development approaches in order to redress the structural challenges to the safety of Indigenous children and families (Blackstock & Trocmé, 2005). Thankfully, SOWK 669 was able to help me understand what this approach could look like, and helped me to begin to consider how to shift from micro-level practice towards greater community engagement in child welfare. In this course we were given the opportunity to explore adopting community development approaches, and I initially struggled with how to integrate this much needed approach into a practice area that is within the context of government:
As an important starting point, key approaches were identified for practitioners to adopt, using a community development approach, and below includes examples of ways in which I am working to adopt these:
Committing to direct engagement in the capacity building process: we will be working to build relationships with existing Indigenous community members to better understand community needs, to collaborate together to find solutions, and to gradually move away from reliance on expert-driven child welfare or family preservation workers and instead help the community to develop and implement plans to prevent child maltreatment.
Recognizing and supporting citizen ownership: in an effort to incorporate client ownership of the program, we will be incorporating ongoing and direct client feedback about services offered, services wanted, and work with clients to identify what they would like from the program. Also, in order to work towards greater community ownership, relationships will need to be cultivated - a significant portion of programming will be redirected towards creating communal space and events to bring people together, to work together and build supportive relationships.
Valuing people's skills, capacities, knowledge and talents: moving forward, in developing the framework for a family preservation program, we will be incorporating a mentorship program and a skill-building program where families who have taken our courses and received support, can attend and be paid for then helping to mentor a newer family to the program.
Confronting discriminatory attitudes, beliefs, and stereotypes as they are manifested in delivery system: in presenting these ideas and options, there has already been some resistance from one CFS manager who has said that this approach cannot be done because the communities do not have the skill to run this sort of program. Addressing these sorts of problem-oriented criticisms will be necessary to help shift towards solutions that identify how to begin to build this capacity within communities, who can then eventually assume greater ownership over these programs.