Worker TRUTH-Telling and Witnessing Circle

October 3, 2023.

presenters:

Nancy Freymond The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective: Founding Member,

Janie Pichette The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective: Member, and

Marilee Sherry The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective: Founding Member

abstract: This experiential session is intended for those who have worked or are currently working in child protection systems. It offers a compassionate space for truth telling and witnessing where the realities of child protection work can be safely and honestly shared. The circle will be held within a context of respectful witnessing and followed by a debriefing discussion where common themes and take-aways will be considered. The Child Welfare Truth Telling Collective seeks to recognize the complexity of personal experience, marginalization, and the raw need for discourse which can be facilitated through truth telling. This session encourages truth in the face of existing codes of silence and offers one humble, yet crucial, step on a pathway towards changed child protection systems.

From knowers to no ones: Narrative accounts of the epistemological violence experienced by professionals working in/around the child protection system who have also been investigated by it.

October 3, 2023.

presenters:

Brooke Richardson The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective: Member and

Nicole Handrigan The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective: Member

abstract: This session explores narrative accounts of the epistemological violence experienced by two professionals working in/around the child protection system who have also been investigated by these systems. These raw narrative accounts seek to deconstruct the tensions of overlapping and conflicting identities: good mother to accused abuser, “experts” being “experted” upon; “knowers” rendered “no ones” in an instant. We approach the audience from a place of lived experience, and not expert.

We anchor our narratives and insights in Miranda Fricker’s (2007) thoughts around onto-epistemological (in)justice to illustrate how different knowledges are not only privileged over others, but how some knowledges – and identities - are erased. We also think with Nora Bernestain’s (2020) concept of “white feminist gaslighting” to recognize epistemological alternatives that already exist.  We recognize our extreme privilege, as white, middle-class, cis-gendered women in heteronormative relationships, knowing how to strategically navigate the overwhelming, inherently traumatic, investigative process. We hope to invite the possibility of hope: “a sense that there might be a door at some point, some way out of the problems of the present moment even before that way is found or followed” (Solnit, 2016, p.22). We feel it is it is critical that the voices and experiences of those who have lived through the child “protection” process, are centered in finding these “doors”.  While we are heartened that there appears to be some movement in this direction (i.e., Kempe allowing people with lived experience to register at no cost), there is still much work to do. We recognize our stories are not representative of most mother’s experiences. We had and have privileges others simply do not. But we remain excited to think with others – those enacting systems and those impacted by them - about centering the subjectivities of mothers/parents/families in system reform and speaking about possible solutions.

Non-identifying information in the quest for identity. Accessing child welfare records

October 3, 2023.

presenters:

Nancy Freymond The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling: Founding Member and

Cheryl Smith The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective: Founding member

abstract: Stories are integral to knowing one’s identity. Cheryl grew up ‘in care’ and as an adult felt compelled to make sense of the gaps in her life story by accessing her child welfare records. She learned that the records about her were not written for her. Using an arts-based medium, she presents the disturbing experience of receiving the fragments of a heavily redacted file. Building from Cheryl’s experience, we will encourage the audience to re-imagine child welfare records that honor the wholeness of a person.

Changing Child Welfare Culture to Support Family Group Conference Values

October 3, 2023.

presenters:

Anita Horner The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective: Member,

Danette Larson Friend of The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective,

Marilee Sherry The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective: Founding Member, and

Mary Wilder Friend of The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective

abstract: What does it take for a child welfare organization to shift its deeply held and often unconscious colonial values to create fertile soil so that the values of Family Group Conferencing (FGC) have the nutrients needed to flourish? The Utah child welfare system is in the midst of implementing an emergent family involvement meeting that is rooted in FGC values. We are finding many variations of readiness for this paradigm shift and are learning a lot about what it takes to change our culture. We will share our motivation for this change, what we are learning, some of our outcomes so far, and what we are encountering along the way. Come join us for a conversation!

Lessons Learned in Speaking and Witnessing Child Protection Worker Truths

October 4, 2023.

presenters:

Nancy Freymond The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective: Founding Member,

Anita Horner The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective: Member,

Karen Lambert The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective: Member,

Janie Pichette The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective: Member,

Val Rode Friend of The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective,

Marilee Sherry The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective: Founding Member, and

Lydia Vandenbos The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective: Member

abstract: Speaking and witnessing truths about the realities of everyday child protection practices leads us to our complicities in harming children, families and communities. Naming these complicities is a transformative action that resists child protection’s code of silence. Set against a backdrop of the lessons from Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Black Lives Matter, we draw on our experiences of designing and participating in child protection worker truth circles, exploring lessons learned, challenges and new reckonings about what may be needed for us to replace harming with relationships grounded in knowing, caring for, and loving children, families and communities and each other across our differences. This discussion is for those curious about speaking and hearing truth.

Why an ounce of child abuse prevention is not valued as a pound of cure in child welfare systems.

October 5, 2023.

presenters:

Nancy Freymond The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective: Founding Member,

Andrew Koster The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective: Founding Member, and

Mark Maske MSW student with The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective

abstract: If only something had been done sooner’ is a common lament in circumstances of child abuse and neglect. Currently, child welfare infrastructure (i.e. work spaces, service protocols, etc.) are designed almost exclusively to support reactionary, crisis-oriented responses. In our investigation of Ontario’s child welfare archives, dating back to the 1950s, we found that preventative infrastructure has never existed. In this discussion, we ask why and critically examine key moments in Ontario’s history where governments failed to integrate prevention infrastructure. Wonder with us about whether there are operational and historical similarities in your jurisdictions and let’s brainstorm alternatives together.

Matching intentions with actions? A conversation with family involvement coordinators/facilitators

October 5, 2023.

presenters:

Anita Horner The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective: Member and

Marilee Sherry The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective: Founding Member

abstract: Coordinators and facilitators of family involvement processes are committed to family voice and participation in decisions that impact those who are affected by child protection practices. We often see ourselves as the “good guys”, the ones who work hard to create space for family groups to participate in creating safety for their children/youth. Child protection systems are rooted in the colonizing belief that “separation creates safety” which sets up a collision of paradigms with the “inclusion and connection creates safety” worldview of family involvement practices. How do we perpetuate “separation creates safety” in our own work and practices? Come join us for a conversation about naming how our own practice may unintentionally support "separation creates safety" instead of inclusion.