Collective of Child Welfare Survivors

11/09/2024

We’re looking for a Social Media Coordinator to join our team!

This is a part-time, hybrid role. The application deadline is Friday, September 27th, 2024.

Visit www.collectiveofcws.ca/work-with-us for more info ☺️

26/07/2024

Friends, this is an urgent legal fundraiser for Tylor Maxie—a disabled Afro Indigenous man from Whitebear First Nation. Tylor was shot by Toronto Police two days ago and is still in the ICU in critical condition after multiple surgeries. Fundraiser is to support his criminal lawyer in the face of this state violence! Link in bio.

26/06/2024

Join ODSP Action Coalition, , Income Security Advocacy Centre, DJNO, & more of our friends for “Nothing Without Us”—an action about the Canada Disability Benefit. We’ll celebrate our successes, but push for so much more that our community needs! July 4th at Matt Cohen Park!

26/06/2024

Friends, we're proud to be part of an amazing community that includes the folks at Toronto Disability Pride March! We're gonna be at Disability Pride March on 13 July going from Queens Park to Grange Park—let's come together and fight together for a better world for all Disabled folks here and around the world.

11/04/2024

Check it out!!!

🎙New Podcast Episode! Thaila Dixon-Eeet with Collective of Child Welfare Survivors joins Dr. Linda Baker to discuss critical youth-centering, capacity-building, and community sites of resistance and healing for child and youth survivors. Access the episode here: https://gbvlearningnetwork.ca/our-work/podcast-series/episode-4/index.html

24/02/2024

12/02/2024

COMMUNITY CALL FOR ADOPTEES TO TAKE PART IN OUR ANTI-ADOPTION MINI SERIES! 🩵

Are you a child welfare survivor who:
-is under 30 years old
-is Black, Indigenous or racialized
-has lived experience with the adoption system
-feels comfortable sharing your story in an audiovisual series focused on anti-adoption and abolition?
If so, please feel free to fill out our registration form: forms.gle/GuVCmUHhpN5CupVR9

The goal of this series is to authentically portray the lived experiences of adoptees-those currently navigating the system and those actively reflecting on and comprehending their journeys. Our objective is to debunk myths surrounding adoption, challenging the notion that it’s a moral right for those unable to conceive. We see this system as an extension of child exploitation and trafficking. As such, we’re seeking individuals who either align with adoption abolitionist principles or are in the process of embracing that framework.

Folks selected to participate will be asked a series of questions revolved around their insights and perspectives on transracial adoption and the abolition of this system. Interviews will take place virtually in Feb/March and be recorded in audiovisual format.

Please note this is NOT a research project but a community-based initiative. $50 honorariums will be provided.

22/01/2024

Update: The application deadline has passed. Thank you to all who applied!

WE’RE HIRING! CCWS is looking for a Community Development & Outreach Coordinator AND Individual Advocacy Coordinator to join our team! These are both part-time, hybrid roles with one-year contracts and possibility of extension. Application deadline is Thursday, February 1st, 2024!

The Community Development & Outreach Coordinator will support establishing and maintaining connections between CCWS and the larger community. This position will involve collaborating with various stakeholders to identify needs, plan initiatives, and implement programs. The worker will coordinate between various CCWS staff and volunteers, and may at times supervise staff, volunteers, and placement students.

The Individual Advocacy Coordinator will be responsible for overseeing and managing advocacy efforts promoting the rights and well-being of children, youth and families involved in the family policing system. The role will involve advocating for individual children’s needs, family/parental rights, coordinating with any relevant services, and providing legal referral. The Individual Advocacy Coordinator will play a critical role in ensuring that children, youth and families/caregivers are heard and respected and that the possibility of reunification increases.

The successful applicants should show relevant work in CCWS’ main principles of anti-Black racism, decolonization, Black Indigenous and racialized solidarity, and q***r & trans liberation work. Given CCWS’ mandate is to work with those surviving and encountering the family policing system, the applicants should illustrate any work—whether as a professional, lived experience, or community volunteering/organizing—that relates to child protection from a critical stance.

Visit collectiveofcws.ca/work-with-us for more info 🩵

15/12/2023

It’s safe to say we’ve all been going through it in one way or another. If you’re looking for support to get through the holidays, check out this list of resources for child welfare survivors ❄️💕

Below are just some of the great organizations we have included:
BIPOC Death Talk mindyourmind.ca Togetherall StepStones for Youth For Youth Initiative - FYI Central Toronto Youth Services Delta Family RC Feed Ontario Afri-Can FoodBasket Native Women's Resource Centre of Toronto Toronto Council Fire Native Cultural Centre Black Youth Helpline Naseeha - Mental Health Fem'aide LGBT YouthLine

IDs available in alt. text.

23/10/2023

We want to make our stance clear: what has and continues to take place on Palestinian land is not “conflict” or “war” but the attempted genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people.

As child welfare survivors and recipients of ongoing state-sanctioned violence, we are in solidarity with Palestine.

IDs available in alt. text.

13/10/2023

Supports for child welfare survivors are few and far between. Here is our list of scholarship, bursary & award opportunities for folks living in so-called Canada (namely Ontario).

Note: we recommend getting a letter indicating your care status when you leave the system since many applications require you to "prove" your experience. If you've already left the system, however, you can try contacting your last social worker's office to ask them to provide this information.

For any support with scholarship applications, visit our website, send us an email, or call us at (647) 675-9789 😊

IDs available in alt. text.