Out-of-Home-Care Rates among Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Children in Countries With Histories of Settler Colonialism

Indigenous children in settler-colonial societies have historically been exposed to frequent family separation; yet contemporary family separation through out-of-home-care (OOHC) remains understudied. We analyzed annual OOHC rates among indigenous and non-indigenous children (2010-2023) in four countries: Australia, United States, Denmark, and Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland). Data sources included national child welfare databases and population registers. We computed observed annual rates and generated age-standardized rates using parametric bootstrap approaches with Generalized Additive Models. We found that indigenous children experienced substantially higher OOHC rates across all countries. Annual rates ranged from around 1.5% (US) to around 6% (Australia, Greenland) among indigenous children, versus 0.6-0.9% among non-indigenous children. Risk ratios were highest in Australia (10.1-11.4) and lowest in the US (1.5-1.9). Our findings demonstrate that indigenous children remain disproportionately exposed to OOHC, with substantial cross-national variation in magnitude and age patterns that likely reflects different policy environments and child welfare practices.