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Social Work Month 2013: Relationships Are a Funny Thing |
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Written by Katherine Ritchie, BSW, Master's Candidate
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Social work entered directly into my life at age 12 when I voluntarily moved into a foster home. Relationships are a funny thing--what is professional and what is personal? Contracts are one thing, but as a child, the implications very personal to me. What does the Indigenous adult who lived in foster care focus on in relationships? This question sets the stage for my current graduate research at the University of Victoria (UVIC). I am writing a peer mentorship program for Aboriginal girls in foster care on Southern Vancouver Island.
Relationships that fostered my cultural identity were put onto the sidelines when the professional focus for social workers became my health and safety during rebellious teenage years. The scene: I grew up with a Caucasian mother, and my Indigenous father’s heritage and identity was never talked about. His name is not even listed on my birth certificate. Although I longed for First Nation culture in my life and voiced this to my social workers, the identity of my Indigenous biological father was and still is unknown, so sadly the topic was dropped. I believe in blood memory. I can feel my ancestors in the wind and the trees. If it were not for the support of my adult relationships with Indigenous friends, faculty, and allies through UVIC, I might have lived my whole life without experiencing the fulfilling nature of my cultural identity. Many Aboriginal girls in foster care do not have access to the support that I do now as an adult. There is absolutely no reason that young Aboriginal women in foster care should be kept from participating in culture if they wish. With forces of intergenerational trauma, housing and health barriers, and overrepresentations in areas associated with drug and alcohol abuse, it is critical that we actively support confidence in cultural identity. Today, this is why I am a social worker.
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