Re-Imagining Child Well-Being
What is the Koognaasewin team talking about when we say Re-Imagining Child Well-Being? Hopefully the illustration below provides a visual of the journey we hope to take with North Shore communities and members to support you in achieving your vision of Child Well-Being!
It is well known that the current, colonial child welfare system is not serving our families well. Through the Koognaasewin initiative, North Shore communities have the opportunity to take back control over child welfare and create a truly community-based Anishinaabe Child Well-Being system that reflects their vision, values, traditions and beliefs. A child well-being system that has at it’s foundation the best interest of the Anishnawbek child, as defined by the community and not by a colonial government.
The reimagining component of Koognaasewin seeks to support North Shore First Nations as they bring to reality their respective vision about what that new system will look like, and to plan how they’re going to get there. This support includes learning about each community’s ideas about:
How the new system will work;
Who will be involved in it and how, and;
The types of services and supports that will be available.
The Koognaasewin team understands that each community is unique and will determine its own future system and that these ideas will undoubtedly look different in each North Shore community. As we move forward and work with you to help your vision of Child Well-Being become reality, we want to meet with as many community members, Elders, those with lived experience, community workers, agency workers and leadership.
Some of this work is already being done by other Koognaasewin team members, including the:
Anishinaabe Law Research work being led by Sarah Jackson, and
Conversations with individuals with lived experience being led by InWithForward.
All this knowledge and invaluable experiences and perspectives will directly inform system re-imagining and design.
We have also been busy building our knowledge of the current child welfare system, including the strengths that exist within communities and learning about different and innovative way to support child well-being.
We are also hoping to connect with you through a Re-Imagining Survey that will be open to input from all North Shore community members. Please keep an eye out for this survey in the coming weeks on www.koognaasewin.ca and on Facebook - @Koognaasewin. This survey will provide community members with the opportunity to share your vision of child well-being, including what’s important to you for a re-imagined child and family wellbeing system.
The Koognaasewin team is planning community engagement sessions with members beginning this Spring to continue to generate ideas for system design. Kerri Commanda and other members of the Koognaasewin team have met with community members, staff and leadership to introduce the Koognaasewin project, and Kerri and Ainslee Kent are in the process of setting up Re-Imagining engagement sessions with North Shore communities starting in April.
We look forward to meeting with you soon!