The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective

Rhonda Andall has worked in the field of social services for many years. She spent many years in the role of Child and Youth Advocate for children, youth and families involved with the child welfare system. Her current employment includes taking complaints from parents, grandparents, guardians, children, and youth. Rhonda is a grandmother to a handsome 8-year-old and enjoys spending time with him on when possible. She is deeply passionate about her work with those connected to the child welfare system and enthusiastic about the work of the Black grandmothers project, as she believes this is an opportunity to strengthen her community.

Marilee Sherry is a White settler whose European ancestors first arrived in North America over 400 years ago. She’s passionate about decolonizing the child protection system through the leadership of the children, their families, and their communities who are involved with the system, particularly through Family Group Conferencing/Family Group Decision Making. For 21 years, she worked in the child protection system as a direct service worker, a child protection manager, an FGDM coordinator, and manager of the FGDM team. The families, children and youth, communities, child welfare staff, FGC/FGDM coordinators, trainees and others who are interested in moving family group leadership to the center of child protection services continue to inspire her. Shes is a proud founding member of the Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective.

TRUTH and Witnessing Last but certainly not least in our listening vs witnessing series is implementation. While listening asks "how will I use or re-present the words?" witnessing calls us to interconnection and a sense of belonging - responsibility being a part of this belonging. What would I be willing to do? What supports do I need?  How do I identify allies? Join us for our first event of the fall season - a TRUTH-telling and Witnessing Circle on October 28th from 6pm-8pm - to put what we've shared over the last month into practice. We look forward to seeing you there! 

Rhonda Andall has worked in the field of social services for many years. She spent many years in the role of Child and Youth Advocate for children, youth and families involved with the child welfare system. Her current employment includes taking complaints from parents, grandparents, guardians, children, and youth. Rhonda is a grandmother to a handsome 8-year-old and enjoys spending time with him on when possible. She is deeply passionate about her work with those connected to the child welfare system and enthusiastic about the work of the Black grandmothers project, as she believes this is an opportunity to strengthen her community.

Marilee Sherry is a White settler whose European ancestors first arrived in North America over 400 years ago. She’s passionate about decolonizing the child protection system through the leadership of the children, their families, and their communities who are involved with the system, particularly through Family Group Conferencing/Family Group Decision Making. For 21 years, she worked in the child protection system as a direct service worker, a child protection manager, an FGDM coordinator, and manager of the FGDM team. The families, children and youth, communities, child welfare staff, FGC/FGDM coordinators, trainees and others who are interested in moving family group leadership to the center of child protection services continue to inspire her. Shes is a proud founding member of the Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective.

TRUTH and witnessing In our lives we take on roles for different situations. Some are natural leaders who assert those qualities. In a TRUTH and witnessing space there are no leaders. It is important to enter the space with good intentions and an open mind. When we witness TRUTH we are not the expert, we are being gifted with insight into another persons journey. It is important to remain humble and grateful for the TRUTH that has been shared with us.

Listening, witnessing and the processes happening (whether knowingly or not) are quite different). While listening is focused on hearing, witnessing moves beyond hearing, towards seeing, feeling and intuition. A significant (and all too familiar) cue that we may be listening and not witnessing, are if we are waiting for the right time to speak, only acknowledging certain pieces of someone's truth. Witnessing, however, encourages us to acknowledge all pieces of someone's truth. This takes practice - and intentionality - and may stir up some discomfort - and that's okay.  

We are excited to be presenting at this years A CALL TO ACTION to CHANGE CHILD WELFARE virtual conference. Join Sarah Tremblett PhD Candidate CWTTC associate member and Nancy Freymond CWTTC founding member on October 10 @12:15-1:45pm MST/ 2:15-3:45pm EST as they present: Resisting Risk: What we do when risk assessment outcomes don’t align with family need. Risk assessment protocols are entrenched in child welfare practices. Despite substantive critique there has been minimal focus on what it’s really like to navigate the risk paradigm in the everyday work. In our experience, we relied on a mix of analytic decision-making, critical thinking and intuition -- followed by creativity when our assessments were at odds with risk assessment results. We invite diverse, possibility minded people to discuss if and how we can fulfill the requirement to work within the risk paradigm and simultaneously resist its negative impacts. How do we understand and manage risk? What do we internalize? What are the implications of resistance? We will focus on actions that chip away at the stronghold of risk assessment and move us toward more just practices. Conference information and registration: https://lnkd.in/ec3pV7PA

We are excited to be presenting at this years A CALL TO ACTION to CHANGE CHILD WELFARE virtual conference. Join Sarah Tremblett PhD Candidate CWTTC associate member and Nancy Freymond CWTTC founding member on October 10 @12:15-1:45pm MST/ 2:15-3:45pm EST as they present: Resisting Risk: What we do when risk assessment outcomes don’t align with family need. Risk assessment protocols are entrenched in child welfare practices. Despite substantive critique there has been minimal focus on what it’s really like to navigate the risk paradigm in the everyday work. In our experience, we relied on a mix of analytic decision-making, critical thinking and intuition -- followed by creativity when our assessments were at odds with risk assessment results. We invite diverse, possibility minded people to discuss if and how we can fulfill the requirement to work within the risk paradigm and simultaneously resist its negative impacts. How do we understand and manage risk? What do we internalize? What are the implications of resistance? We will focus on actions that chip away at the stronghold of risk assessment and move us toward more just practices. Conference information and registration: https://lnkd.in/ec3pV7PA

National Day of Truth and Reconciliation is recognized in Canada and the US as a day to reflect on the actions taken by governments and residential schools. We invite you to reflect on your part in perpetuating these actions in Child Welfare, learn from the Truth and Reconciliation calls to action, and take personal and professional accountability to take action to end the harms colonization continues to bring to Indigenous peoples.