Fournier, Suzanne and Ernie Crey. Stolen from Our Embrace. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre Ltd., 1997.
Summary: This important and timely book is a balance of the most gruesome elements of assimilation: church-run schools, the child welfare system, survivors of sexual abuse, and Foetal Alcohol Syndrome counter-balanced against heroic stories of children who survived, fought back, and found their way home. Harrrowing stories are presented wherever possible in the first person, by Fournier, a journalist, and Cree, a B.C native spokesperson and activist, and a stolen child himself. The final message is optimistic, suggesting that redress and reconciliation could enrich the entire country by creating healthy aboriginal communities.
Abstract: The “Sixties Scoop” describes a period in Aboriginal history in Canada in which thousands of Aboriginal children were removed from birth families and placed in non-Aboriginal environments. Despite literature that indicates adoption breakdown rates of 85-95%, recent research with adults adopted as children indicates that some adoptees have found solace through re- acculturating to their birth culture and contextualizing their adoptions within colonial history. This article explores the history of Aboriginal adoption in Canada and examines some of the issues of transracial adoption through the lens of psychology theories to aid understanding of identity conflicts facing Aboriginal adoptees. The article concludes with recommendations towards a paradigm shift in adoption policy as it pertains to Aboriginal children.
Chapter 2: The History of Indian Child Welfare in Canada written by Cheryl Marlene Swidrovich includes the early history of the relationship between Indigenous peoples and the child welfare system, the developments in the literature leading to greater Aboriginal control of child and family services agencies. Development of culturally sensitive child welfare legislation and Aboriginal controlled agencies. The MA thesis provides a perspective of Indigenous peoples who had positive experiences within the child welfare system and their foster homes.
Joanna Lina Pierce, Dawn Hemingway & Glen Schmidt. (2014). Partnerships in Social Work Education, Journal of Teaching in Social Work.
Abstract: In the 1960s, Aboriginal children were removed from their communities in alarming numbers and were referred to as the “sixties scoop.” This may in part explain the difficulty in recruiting Aboriginal social workers into child welfare practice. This reality prompted the development of a post–bachelor degree certificate aimed at increasing the number of Aboriginal child welfare social workers in northern British Columbia. The results discussed in this article stem from three certificate cohorts and highlight the development of new partnerships and students’ experiences. Two years following the completion of the third cohort, nearly 80% of the students recruited were still employed in the North.
A film about a Métis boy who moved from foster home to foster home since the age of four. Richard committed suicide at the age of seventeen. Alanis Obomsawin uses the diary he left behind to create this tribute to Richard.
Hanson, Eric. (n.d.). “Sixties Scoop”: The Sixties School and Aboriginal child welfare.
Lyons, Tom. (2000). Stolen nation. Eye Weekly.
A brief description of the Sixties Scoop. “For more than 20 years, Canada took native children from their homes and placed them with white families. Now a lost generation want its history back.”
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