Background • Who We Are • Visions & Goals
In 2002, the Executive Directors of the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) and the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada (FNCFCSC) discussed the lack of understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples that is a barrier to improving child welfare services for Indigenous peoples.
Recognizing the common issues on both sides of the Canada-United States border, they dreamed about a meeting of community leaders, policy makers, and child welfare experts from Canada and the United States. These leaders would candidly look back at the history of child welfare interventions into Indigenous families and communities in order to understand the vision and values that guided this practice.
With a better understanding of the past, these leaders would then try to re-vision a child welfare system that demonstrated respect and support for Indigenous peoples.
The Centre of Excellence for Child Welfare and the Child Welfare League of America heard about this dream and agreed to collaborate with NICWA and the FNCFCSC to make the meeting a reality. Three years later, approximately 200 Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders from Canada and the United States came together in Niagara Falls, Canada to launch reconciliation movement in child welfare.
Distinguished international guests described the disproportionate risks faced by Indigenous children and youth around the world. Elders and youth shared their views about reconciliation and child welfare in North America. Over the course of three days, Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants engaged in courageous conversations and articulated the underlying principles and guidelines for reconciliation in child welfare with Indigenous peoples. Participants committed to bringing this message back to their professional and community groups in order to continue the reconciliation movement in child welfare.