Indigenous children and the settler’s pursuit of land: tracing structural colonialism through the child welfare system

2025/04/25 by Abram J. Lyons, Claudette Grinnell‐Davis · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Anthropological Studies and Insights #Child Welfare and Adoption #Indigenous Health, Education, and Rights

paper · doi:10.1080/15548732.2025.2497500

openalex publication_date 2025/04/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/27

Abstract

Indigenous Children in the United States have disproportionately experienced child welfare involvement since the early 20th century. State-sanctioned child removals occur within a broader historical pattern of US-Indigenous policies aimed at erasing Indigenous Peoples to acquire land. Although the child welfare system was not explicitly designed for that purpose, its outcomes nonetheless perpetuate erasure by reproducing Euro-American norms. This study explores the significance of the child welfare abolition movement for Indigenous Children using a Critical Indigenous theoretical framework. It concludes that structural colonialism is reflected within child welfare and emphasizes the importance of Tribal self-determination in policy recommendations or decisions.

Citations

• 8 Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples
• Capital: A Critique of Political Economy
• Gender and Social Reproduction: Historical Perspectives
• Challenging the Indian Child Welfare Act: colorblind racism, whiteness as property, and the legal architecture of settler colonialism
• Beyond Reform and Abolition: Navigating the Complexities of Indigenous Child Welfare

Discussions

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Related

• Beyond Reform and Abolition: Navigating the Complexities of Indigenous Child Welfare
• Challenging the Indian Child Welfare Act: colorblind racism, whiteness as property, and the legal architecture of settler colonialism
• Resisting the White Settler Colonial Nation-State: Lessons From Indigenous Land-Based Teachings and Their Implications for Social Work Education
• Welfare or Cultural Genocide? Law, civilization, decivilization, and the removal of Indigenous children in Australia.
• Colonialism, Racism, and Childhoods: Introduction