Virtual Policy Tour

Introduction

Children and youth constitute the most important part of any community as they are the future of nations. Any nation's well-being and future is directly dependent on every child receiving equal opportunity to reach his or her full potential. Therefore, this paper is primarily focused on indigenous child welfare policies and how the organizations visited for the purpose of this assignment assist in decolonization and regeneration of indigenous culture from the perspective of the child welfare policies.

Indigenous perspective about child welfare stands in stark contrast to the European viewpoint. The differences between these perspectives resulted in continued oppression of and discrimination against indigenous children. Canadian government has attempted to control every aspect of indigenous lives through policies such as The Indian Act and British North America Act. These policies, which are made for indigenous community by the western influence dominated Canadian government, were developed in reference to the ‘national interest’ not with reference to the interest, rights, needs, and aspiration of Indian people (Boldt,1994, p.69).

Indigenous interest has always been subordinated to the national interest. Now the time is changing and indigenous community is entering a healing phase. They deserve a different set of being, real opportunities for them to finally realize justice and peace in their lives (Alfred, 2005). Both, National Association of Friendship Centers (NAFC) and First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada (FNCFCSC) understand this need and are actively involved in revival of the indigenous community and traditions, especially in respect to child welfare.

Question 1

The logo for First Nations Child and Family Caring Society summarizes the indigenous concept of community’s involvement in child upbringing the best. Within indigenous belief every member of the community plays a crucial role in ensuring the adequate environment for children. This helps create an equitable community, which addresses not only individual familial issues but also larger social and economic issues in child upbringing. Approaching challenges and issues through a community approach enables durable solutions that address the root causes of the issues. Additionally, indigenous view considers all races to be equally responsible for caring for mother earth and the self-esteem of the child (FNCFCSC, 2017).

A community in which there are no signs of oppression, racism or any sort of inequalities can be ideal for a child’s growth, but this is not the case with every child. Eurocentric values starkly contrast with indigenous ones as Eurocentric values stress upon the individualism of every person and remove the community support present in the indigenous perspectives (Little Bear, 2000). Removing such social support