Awakening the Spirit

"Awakening the Spirit: Moving Forward in Child Welfare is a diverse, thought-provoking collection of writing on the current status of child welfare that simultaneously articulates new thinking and doing within child welfare policy, practice, and training. Informed by research, this collaborative collection offers a rich commentary on the influences and contexts within which Canadian child welfare operates. This book is an important contribution that will promote renewed discussion of what it means to move child welfare forward. -Margaret Kovach, College of Education, University of Saskatchewan
Awakening the Spirit brings together the latest thinking from child welfare scholars and practitioners as they focus on issues central to the well-being of children in the Canadian Prairies. This collection contains an appropriate emphasis on Aboriginal voices and the Aboriginal child welfare experience that makes child welfare policy and practice on the Prairies unique and challenging. This collection should be required reading for those who are serious about making a difference. -Harvy Frankel, Dean, Faculty of Social Work, University of Manitoba
As Aboriginal communities across Canada take increasing control over their child welfare services, new possibilities for more effective alternatives for supporting vulnerable children and their families are emerging. Awakening the Spirit provides an opportunity for Indigenous and non-Indigenous service providers, community leaders, and scholars to learn about creative programs that are emerging across the three Prairie provinces and Northern Canada. While funding, capacity, and community control will continue to pose significant challenges, the emerging programs described in this book present an important vision for strenghts-based approaches anchored in children's and families' communities and traditions. -Nico Trocme, The Philip Fisher Chair in Social Work, Centre for Research on Children and Families, McGill University"