Study shows ’empirical’ link between residential schools and Indigenous youth in care: researcher

published on July 4, 2019 by Michelle Ghoussoub in CBC News (BC)

New research conducted at the University of British Columbia is shedding light on the relationship between residential schools and the modern day child welfare system.

Brittany Barker, a postdoctoral fellow with the BC Centre on Substance Use, said the impact of intergenerational trauma from the residential school systems is well understood among Indigenous communities, and the overrepresentation of Indigenous youth in care has been previously documented.

But Barker, who completed her doctoral work at UBC in April, said her research shows for the first time an empirical association between having been in the residential school system, and subsequent generations being at higher risk for being in the child welfare system…