An edited collection from diverse Indigenous and non-Indigenous authors, researchers and practitioners in Canada, including the work of some renowned child welfare scholars. It is devoted to improving the lives of children and families that come to the attention of child welfare authorities by demonstrating and advocating socially just child welfare practice. Chapter authors provide special consideration to the historical and political context of child welfare in Canada. The book features both theoretical ideas and concrete practices that support practitioners, educators and students who are looking for anti racist, anti oppressive and anti colonial perspectives on practice.

An introduction:Anti-racist and anti-oppressive child welfare / Susan Strega and Sohki Aski Esquao [Jeannine Carrière] -- Indigenous children in the centre: Indigenous perspectives on anti-oppressive child welfare practice Qwul'sih'yah'maht [Robina Thomas] and Kundoqk [Jacquie Green] -- Meeting here and now: reflections on racial and cultural difference in social work encounters / Donna Jefferey -- Family group decision making: does it engage indigenous families in child protection? / Tara Ney, Kinewesquao [Cathy Richardson] and Maureen Maloney -- Race matters: social justice, not assimilation or cultural competence / Sarah Maiter -- Critical well-being in child welfare: a journey towards creating a new social contract for black communities / Nicole Bonnie and Gordon Pon -- Adjusting a power imbalance: there is no anti-oppression without service users' voice / Gary Dumbrill and Winnie Lo -- Acknowledging Métis aspirations: preparing social workers to support Métis families / Kinewesquao [Cathy Richardson] -- Anti-oppressive approaches to child protection: assessment and file recording / Michele Fairbairn and Susan Strega -- Invisible fathers, blamed mothers: engaging fathers in child welfare practice / Christopher Walmsley, Susan Strega, Leslie Brown, Marilyn Callahan and Lena Dominelli -- Taking children's resistance seriously: a reponse-based approach to children experiencing violence / Kinewesquo [Cathy Richardson] and Shelley Bonnah -- Indigenous families: substance use and child welfare: substance use and child welfare / Charlotte Loppie and Bernie Pauly -- Creating places of belonging: expanding notions of permanency with indigenous youth in care / Sandrina de Finney and Lara di Tomasso -- Honouring adoptee rights: towards anti-oppression in Indigenous adoption / Otisewåapit [Raven Sinclair] and Sohki Aski Esquao [Jeannine Carrière] -- Practising from the heart: living and working in First Nations communities / Sohki Aski Esquao [Jeannine Carrière] and Wa Cheew Wapaguunew Iskew [Carolyn Peacock].