Child Welfare Services for Indigenous Populations: A Comparison of Child Welfare Histories, Policies, Practices and Laws for American Indians and Norwegian Sámis

Abstract

This article takes Dixon and Scheurell's framework for understanding colonisation processes within social welfare policies and applies it to child welfare for Indigenous populations in the United States and Norway. While those countries’ historical child welfare policies follow Dixon and Scheurell's hypotheses regarding colonisation, each nation took very different legal approaches to ensure culturally appropriate child welfare services to their Indigenous populations. Ultimately, however, both countries’ current legal policies leave much responsibility for implementing culturally responsive practice squarely on the shoulders of practitioners. Thus, the policy and practice recommendations for both countries necessitate similar actions.