Our review points to a general need for enhanced knowledge about the structure of Aboriginal child
welfare. We have documented the existence of variation in the structural factors shaping Aboriginal child
welfare, but the finer details of this variation are still elusive: funding agreements are not publicly
accessible, details of the legislative exemptions granted have not been compiled, and information about
the specific differences between service delivery models is difficult to access. Accordingly, the rich
variation that could potentially support comparison of policy and structural alternatives, and development of new Aboriginal child welfare programs and policies, remains largely unexamined. Our
review also suggests specific areas of research that may help support development of new programs and
policies. In terms of funding, a clear research priority was identified by Auditor General of Canada
(2011), who called for the development of a mechanism for assessing comparability of federal and
provincial and territorial child welfare funding and noted that any mechanism must take into account
complex factors such as gaps in complementary services. Given the multiple layers of funding and service
variations that need to be accounted for, the development of such a mechanism on the national, or even
provincial or territorial level, is a daunting task. Our review indicates that there are Aboriginally
governed child welfare agencies that serve both on-reserve and off-reserve Aboriginal populations and,
accordingly, receive both provincial and federal funding in four provinces. Analysis of provincial and
federal funding disparities, and any existing mechanisms for ensuring equitable treatment of families and
children living on-reserve and off-reserve, within such agencies would limit the variation in contextual
factors that need to be considered. This type research could provide a stronger foundation on which to
build broader, more complicated funding comparisons.
A second issue has been less explicitly specified as a priority for research, but permeates our analysis of
legislation and governance models: the existence of dual mandates – one derived from provinces and
territories and enshrined in legislation, and another derived from Aboriginal communities and shaped by
customary laws and practices. These dual mandates are reflected in Aboriginally governed agency
descriptions, the existence of Aboriginal-specific practice standards, the passage of child welfare
legislation by the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, and the creation of legislative provisions
allowing Aboriginal agencies to seek exemption from specific statutes and standards. The approval or
acceptance of Aboriginal standards, as well as the existence of agencies with an integrated service
delivery model, suggests that there are areas of significant overlap between the two mandates. However,
the existence of contrasting frameworks of provincial and First Nations child welfare legislation in
Saskatchewan, the conclusions drawn in province-specific reviews of Aboriginal child welfare (e.g.
Ontario Commission to Promote Sustainable Child Welfare, 2011), and our informal conversations
with Aboriginal child welfare organizations suggest that negotiating the tensions between these dual
mandates is the central challenge of Aboriginal child welfare. Yet, we could find no systematic
documentation or analysis of the specific challenges that child welfare agencies face in negotiating dual
mandates. Questions that might inform policy or program development include general questions such
as: What are the common areas of overlap and tension between Aboriginal and provincial or territorial
mandates? How do child welfare agencies manage any tensions that do exist? They also include more
specific questions linking the task of negotiating dual mandates to specific structures and legislative
provisions: Does the ability of an agency to manage tensions differ based on service delivery model?
How have Aboriginally governed child welfare agencies made use of provisions allowing them to seek
exemptions from specific legislative provisions?
Pursuit of research questions such as these has the potential to facilitate both the identification of key
challenges to be addressed in future development of Aboriginal child welfare policies, and the
determination of which existing policies should be maintained or enhanced in order to support the
creation and delivery of effective child welfare services for Aboriginal children and families. While the
review presented here has focused on Aboriginal child welfare in Canada, it also has implications for
Aboriginal child welfare in Australia and the U.S., where the historical patterns of Aboriginal child
removal, the persistent overrepresentation of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care, and efforts toaddress overrepresentation through legislative or structural changes to a decentr