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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
October 30, 2023 @ 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm
Please join us for our next lecture in the 2023-2024 Alumni Series, presented by the FIFSW Alumni Association, where we will be joined by Dr. Barbara Fallon, Dr. Jeffrey Schiffer and Tara Petti in a talk titled, “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.”
Alumni, students, faculty and members of the public are all welcome to attend.
When: Monday, October 30, 2023 | 6:30PM – 8:00PM ET
Where: Online (Zoom)
About the talk
Together, Dr. Barbara Fallon, Dr. Jeffrey Schiffer and Tara Petti will present findings from The First Nations/Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (FN/OIS-2018) and The First Nations/Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (FN/CIS-2019). These studies are a collaborative effort by the FN/OIS and FN/CIS research teams, the First Nations Advisory Committees and child welfare workers. The studies report provincial and national-level data on investigations involving First Nations children compared to non-Indigenous children, as intended by the Truth & Reconciliation’s Calls to Action. In Ontario in 2018, First Nations children were 7 times more likely than non-Indigenous children. Across Canada in 2019, disparities between rates of child welfare service dispositions for First Nations and non-Indigenous children grew with every decision across the service continuum, concluding with First Nations children being 17.2 times more likely than non-Indigenous children to be placed in formal out-of-home care. The final reports are available on the Canadian Child Welfare Research Portal (FN/OIS and FN/CIS).
About the speakers
Dr. Barbara Fallon is the Associate Vice-President, Research for the University of Toronto and a Professor at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work. Dr. Fallon also holds a Canada Research Chair in Child Welfare. She is an Adjoint Professor at the Kempe Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, University of Colorado School of Medicine and at The Hospital for Sick Children. Dr. Fallon’s research interests include comparisons of child protection systems, the disproportional and disparate representation of racialized groups within the child welfare system, and the contribution of worker and organizational characteristics to child-welfare decision making.
Dr. Jeffrey Schiffer is a cultural anthropologist, human services leader and child advocate who was born in Vancouver, BC- on unceded Coast Salish Territory. He grew up at the intersection of mainstream and Indigenous organizations and has worked in the post-secondary, public service, and non-profit sectors. Like so many of the community members serviced by NCFST, Jeff’s maternal family history is fractured by Canada’s shared colonial history: he is not a status Indian or formal member of a First Nations, Métis or Inuit Community, but his maternal family includes the Turcotte, Lemire, Piquette, and Fortin families – all of whom travelled along Métis voyageur trade routes and road allowances in a multi-generational journey from Quebec, into the Dakotas, and through Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Jeff self-identifies as a Canadian with European and Indigenous ancestors. Jeff is passionate about building integrated and coordinated systems of human services that focus on the safety, health, wellbeing, and prosperity of children. His dissertation focused on decolonizing Indigenous child welfare in Canadian cities. Over the past 15 years he has held various positions at the Earth Institute at Columbia University, Vancouver Aboriginal Child and Family Services Society, the Justice Institute of British Columbia, the City of Toronto, and Native Child and Family Services of Toronto. Jeff is currently the Director of Governance and Strategy at NCFST and volunteers his time serving on a number of board and committees.
Tara Petti was a member of The First Nations/Canadian Incidence Study Of Reported Child Abuse And Neglect-2019 Advisory Committee/Research Team.