An Indigenous child welfare agency’s fight to restore culture and raise kids at home

On the north shore of Lake Huron, an Indigenous organization called Nogdawindamin has taken a new approach to child welfare services.

After years of watching their kids being sent south to group homes and foster homes, far from their communities, they knew they had to build something new, “something out of the box.” Culture would be its foundation.

Children were to be raised in the community and provided services grounded in Anishnawbek values. Immediately, kids who’d been placed in group homes were returned to live with relatives or community members. Nogdawindamin developed an ethos based on a “circle of care” – that a healthy child flows from a healthy family and a healthy community.

The circle had to support all three simultaneously. But as Carolyn Jarvis reports Nogdawindamin is still facing hurdles in realizing its goal of no kids in care.

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