BLAC is proud to act the organizational mentor for the Collective of Child Welfare Survivors.

The Collective of Child Welfare Survivors (CCWS) is a grassroots organization that provides various support for child welfare survivors between the ages 15-25 years old, particularly Black, Indigenous, and racialized individuals as well as their families. CCWS works in partnership with BLAC and other critical partners related to the child welfare experience.

CCWS’ main pillars are systemic organizing, community development, and one-on-one individual intervention/advocacy. The Collective grounds the work it does under the main pillars in the principles of critical youth-centering, decolonization, and addressing anti-Black racism. Most persons seeking support (“PSS”) are Black, Indigenous, and racialized people.

The mission of the Collective to create and implement an organization that addresses and rethinks child welfare and care for child welfare survivors and families. It is the Collective’s goal to create spaces for child welfare survivors to develop themselves and their relations beyond the various ways that child welfare survivors get blamed, pathologized, and placed in institutions. Ultimately, it is the Collective’s goal to think and practice beyond what’s currently decided as practice for child welfare.

To find out more, visit www.collectiveofcws.ca.  

Funding for this initiative is provided by the Ontario Trillium Foundation.