Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective began as a core group of six White settlers with experiences of working in the child welfare system in Ontario, Canada.

In 2019, we were teaching a child welfare course to undergraduate social work students. During discussions about how to best prepare students for the realities of child welfare work, we came to the realization that much of our own truth about doing this work had not been spoken.

We also became acutely aware of a deep yearning to speak truth about our experiences.

Informally, we began to talk, carefully at first. Over time, we found our way to more honest, uninhibited and non-performative dialogues. In particular, we spoke openly about the aspects of our work which we found deeply troubling. For many of us, there have been no spaces inside child welfare systems, or elsewhere, for these conversations. In the spring of 2020, we founded the Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective (CWTTC).

We are unsettled by our work in systems of child welfare and the ways we have benefitted from this work, and, for some of us, our White and settler privileges. For those of us who identify as White settlers, our responsibilities are front of mind in light of the ‘Calls to Action’ which were issued by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in 2015. We are seeking greater consciousness about how, in creating and upholding child welfare’s structures, we are complicit in colonization.

We are searching for our way to reconciliation. Rooted in our child welfare experiences, we are endeavouring to:

—Build communities where we can speak honestly and authentically about delivering child welfare services;

—Tell our own truths as a means to name and understand the harms that child welfare systems cause and our complicity in them;

—Become more conscious of our responsibilities in decolonizing these systems;

—Support Indigenous self-determination and continually strive to become allies;

—Work against dehumanizing structures by celebrating and honouring the humanity of everyone connected to systems of child welfare;

—Envelop our everyday interactions with love and compassion;

—We are seeking greater consciousness about the present and past violence caused by child welfare systems and our complicity in these harms.

In accordance with the Calls to Action by Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission about the education and training of child welfare social workers and reducing the number of Indigenous children in care, the CWTTC's core purposes are to:

(1) collaboratively build national and international knowledge networks that tackle the problem of how and why child welfare systems harm children, youth, families and communities and the people they employ;

(2) support people whose lives have been impacted by child welfare systems to speak their truths and witness the truths of others; and

(3) harness our lived experience truths to move collectively towards caring and protective child welfare structures and practices.

We believe that the wellness of children, youth, families, and communities is the cornerstone of a better, socially just future.

The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective is rooted in speaking and witnessing truth while cultivating knowledge and space that inspires new, compassionate practices.

The image of a tree is used to symbolize the vision of the Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective. Trees are natural, strong, life-giving and long-lasting. Year after year, they grow and flourish. Trees provide protective shelter and shade. They produce fruit that restores and nourishes. They also produce seeds for regeneration. Trees are rooted deeply into the earth while simultaneously reaching for the sky. Trees have many ways of communicating. Trees have healing powers. Trees transform harm to some (carbon dioxide) into health for those who are harmed (oxygen). The greater our care and compassion for them, the greater their capacity to care for the world.

Roots

The values of the Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective are symbolized by our roots. As we grow, all that we do and achieve must be grounded in our shared beliefs and values.

We are unified in our belief that action must be taken to stop child welfare’s harm to the children, families, and communities who receive services.

We are rooted in the power of truth-telling and witnessing. Truth-telling and witnessing humanizes. Healing and change flows from and through these processes.

Speaking and witnessing truths are acts of political resistance. These acts help to move us toward healing and reconciliation.

In the context of child welfare, this is a new way of working and being together. How Collective members love each other, share power, invite diversity and difference, honour knowledges, value others in our talk and action, and make collective decisions may be a microcosm for the changes we seek in the child welfare systems of the future.

We understand that we must bring our full selves to this work (e.g., bodies, minds, spirits, hearts, and souls) and move courageously, slowly, and with compassionate humility.

Trunk

The trunk of the tree signifies strength. Our core purposes are symbolized by the trunk. They are:

To provide breathing space and a place for truth-telling and witnessing.

To develop a good way for truth-telling and witnessing to take place (i.e. processes).

To raise our consciousness about the core nature of child welfare systems, including how and why they bring harm to children, families and communities and to the people they employ.

To grow in our understanding of our responsibilities and our complicities in colonization as well as oppressive social relations, particularly those of us who are White, and to connect this understanding with the suffering of the global majority.

To grow the imperative of truth telling and witnessing across child welfare systems. According to Cindy Blackstock and other inspirational Indigenous leaders, truth-telling and witnessing is a crucial phase of the process of reconciliation.

Branches

Many branches extend from the trunk of the tree. The branches represent the multiple ways that we work together to accomplish our collective purposes. We seek to re(present) ideas in creative and inspirational ways.

We are committed to supporting the aspirations of our members. Examples include webinars, conference presentations, research projects, writing, website development, podcasts.

Fruits

Extending from the branches are the fruits which are the nourishing gifts of the tree. These are the changes that are realized. Changes may occur within individuals (i.e. raised consciousness, changed language, actions) and at institutional and community levels. Ultimately, all activities that contribute to stopping harm to people who experience this system are the fruits.

We know that change takes time. We may not see the fruits in our lifetime.

Tree

In this symbol of a tree, we are reminded that our work reflects the hopes and dreams of unique and valuable individuals. The tree reminds us that it is possible to transform harm (carbon dioxide) into health (oxygen).

We are committed to truth-telling for the purposes of consciousness raising. We want to grow in our awareness of how child welfare systems operate and why they operate in these ways. We create spaces for people whose lives have intersected with systems of child welfare to share their truths.

We are talking with a view to deepening our understanding of the ways that deeply entrenched colonial codes are shaping child welfare infrastructure and our everyday child welfare practices and experiences. We intend for these dialogues to create space and support for the development of individual and collective actions toward decolonization of these systems.

We believe that there is the will and courage amongst people who have child welfare experience to demand the changes that will lead to a system that is just and fair. We invite anyone whose everyday life (work or personal or both) has been shaped, enriched, interrupted, altered, turned upside down, destroyed…etc. to our dialogues. 

You can view what we’re currently working on under the projects tab.