Beyond Reform and Abolition: Navigating the Complexities of Indigenous Child Welfare

• Published in: Families in society Vol. 106; no. 2; pp. 500 - 519
• Main Authors: Asher BlackDeer, Autumn, Harty, Justin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.06.2025; Sage Publications Ltd
• Subjects: Abolition of slavery; Child welfare; Children; Complicity; Debates; Health disparities; Human trafficking; Indigenous peoples; Native children & youth; Professional practice; Reforms; Service increment for teaching; Social work; Social workers; Trafficking; subjects of practice; critical; anti-oppressive practice; Indigenous; colonization; radical or progressive social work; child welfare; modes of practice; identity/identities; non-reformist reform
• ISSN: 1044-3894; 1945-1350
• DOI: 10.1177/10443894241303964

Despite the passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act nearly 50 years ago, Indigenous children are persistently disproportionately represented within the child welfare system, yet continue to be overlooked in the debate between abolition and reform in the social work literature. Purpose: As these disparities continue to widen, social workers fail to recognize the unique struggles of Indigenous children and families upon encountering the child welfare system. Design: The present work provides a historic overview of Indigenous child welfare interaction, grounds discussions in coloniality, and implicates social work’s complicity in perpetuating the genocidal fiscal economy of Native child trafficking. Results: Through a lens of Indigenous child welfare, we sift through the abolitionist versus reformist debate, introduce the Indian Child Welfare Act as an example of a non-reformist reform, and conclude with implications for social work practice.