60's Scoop: Long-Term Effects Of The Foster Care System In Canada

The 60's Scoop was a tragic time in Canada when many Indigenous children were taken away from their families and communities and placed in non-Indigenous homes or institutions. It lasted from the late 1950s to the early 1980s and was part of government policies to make Indigenous people conform to mainstream Canadian society. This caused trauma, cultural and identity loss, and other long-term effects for many survivors. In this essay, we will look at the history of it and how it came to be in canada and the history of it, how this system discriminatory against First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples, and what were the long term effects of the foster care system/ 1960s scoop on identity, family relationships, parenting, culture, spirituality,

Oftentimes, these separations occurred without proper consultation or consideration of the cultural identity of the children, which caused so much trauma by separating these children from their families. The "Sixties Scoop'' is an example of this discrimination, where Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families and placed in non-Indigenous homes. Statistics show that in The “2021 census data reveals that Indigenous children make up 53.8 percent of all children in foster care, which is an increase over the 2016 census.” Another often asked question is whether or not the foster care system is still discriminatory today towards indigenous people. Well to answer the question in the article titled “The bond is broken’: Data shows number of Indigenous kids in foster care is going up: StatCan'' by Fraser Needman, it explains that a mother from winnipeg she was scarred for life when her first child was taken away at birth by social workers. Who claimed that she was an unfit mother because she was only 17 years old when she had given birth. “I don’t know how one could fully heal from that trauma,” “said the woman, now 41”(Press, T. C. (2022, September 21). Therefore it is very evident that even still today our foster care system is extremely

Many of the children who grew up in the foster care system where they were abused and had a loss of identity tend to end up suffering from psychological and emotional problems, and oftentimes these problems do not emerge until later in life. These problems can stem from loss of identity, trauma, disrupted relationships, cultural disconnection, loss of language, lack of trust, and intergenerational problems. A social worker from the university of british columbia, professor Raven Sinclair describes these and this professor describes these horrible experiences these children had to endure as creating “tremendous obstacles to the development of a strong and healthy sense of identity for the transracial adoptee”(n.d.) March 13, 2023). Overall, the foster care system and the 1960s scoop had profound and lasting effects on Indigenous communities in Canada, impacting their sense of identity, culture, spirituality, and well-being. It is essential to acknowledge and address these effects to promote healing and reconciliation with Indigenous