Strengthening family relationships for Black youth-in-care in Ontario, Canada

Extant literature confirms that when youth are removed from their families, they experience disrupted relationships with parents, siblings, and friends and disconnections from their neighbourhoods and schools. The study objective was to explore the changes in Black youth’s family relationships while in care. We completed the study in partnership with one child welfare service in Southwestern Ontario. This agency was an ideal setting because of its demonstrated commitment to the creation of culturally responsive processes and spaces, with an established collaborative relationship with African, Black, and Caribbean (ACB) communities. This qualitative study garnered critical insights from 12 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with 13 participants comprised of children service staff, caregivers, and youth (14 years and older) on services that support Black children’s wellbeing with respect to family relationships. The study showed youth expressing different feelings regarding family relationships – some revealed love for their mothers while others struggled with how to manage the ongoing contacts with their families. Child welfare staff and caregivers indicated awareness that it is traumatic for children and youth to come into care. They also recognized that empathy was not enough and made several suggestions to improve services for youth. With respect to family relationships, findings led to the following two suggested insights for practitioners to consider about its services while supporting Black youth-in-care: 1) the need to integrate a race-informed trauma lens towards Black youth-in-care and their families; and 2) building stronger relationships with youths’ biological families. • There is very little Canadian research that explores the qualitative, in-depth experiences from the perspectives of Black youth-in-care, as well as those that care for them including caregivers and agency staff. This study is unique and distinct as it includes youth-focused driven solutions to maintaining family relationships. • In recognizing the importance of including voices of youth and those working with Black youth-in-care, this study contributes to building knowledge in this understudied area to improve programs, practices, and policies. • This study highlights social work practice insights that were generated from the data, which include some concrete, realistic, and practical recommendations that agency staff can potentially implement in their day-to-day work. In particular, the insights shared by the participant cohorts highlight the following: 1) the need to integrate race-informed trauma lens towards black youth-in-care and their families; and 2) building stronger relationships with youth’s biological families through inclusion of biological caregivers in all stages of case planning.