Since March 2018, reporter Brielle Morgan has been covering the trial of an Indigenous mother who’s fighting to get her four daughters out of foster care, and she’s been getting lots of feedback. The following letter was emailed on June 22, 2018.
Hi Brielle,
Thank you for your coverage of this really important case and for raising the questions you do. All of these questions are important, but what especially resonates for me is the question about re-allocation of resources to family to enable children to stay in their homes, as many First Nations advocates, parents and communities have been calling for for decades.
Despite all the research and advocacy (not to mention the ruling of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal on First Nations Child Welfare), the rate of child removal of Indigenous children, and especially First Nations children, continually grows. And, as this trial seems to be exposing: those children are most often placed in secure and/or group ‘care’ facilities, not in caring homes with other Indigenous people.
Please keep up the good work.
best,
Melisa
Melisa Brittain, PhD
Research Associate
First Nations Children’s Action Research and Education Service (FNCARES)
Faculty of Education, University of Alberta
What do you make of Brielle Morgan’s coverage of this case — and the broader child-welfare system? How can she improve her reporting? Share your thoughts publicly or email brielle@thediscourse.ca.
