Changing the Ontario Child Welfare System to Better Serve African Canadians
One Vision One Voice is a program led by the African Canadian community. It is funded by the Ontario Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services through the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies and addresses the overrepresentation and experiences of disparities faced by African Canadians after coming into contact with the child welfare system.
Phase III of the One Vision One Voice (OVOV) program is underway. The focus of this next phase is the ongoing implementation work of the 11 Race Equity Practices. The third part of the Practice Framework series has been released, a toolkit that will help agencies assess their implementation of the Race Equity Practices to date, determine what more is needed, and develop further implementation plans. It is available here.
Other priorities for the next phase of work include ongoing engagement with the African Canadian community, developing a leadership mentorship program for African Canadians working in the child welfare sector, launching additional Power Up! youth gatherings, and evaluating existing programs and service delivery models.
PHASE III: Anti-Black Racism Needs Assessment (November 2020)
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We Welcome Your Ongoing Feedback
Email: onevisiononevoice@oacas.org
Join the Conversation Online
Join the conversation on social media through Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram by telling us how Ontario’s child welfare system can better serve the African Canadian population.
Follow us @1Vision1VoiceCA and use the hashtag: #1Vision1Voice
Join us every month on the last Thursday for our Community Chat!
Contact us at onevisiononevoice@oacas.org to register—your participation access link will be sent out via email, the morning of the discussion. Please feel free to send your questions and topics in advance!
Social Media Accounts for Youth
A channel for African Canadian youth to share, create, celebrate, and educate!
Do you have any music, spoken word, poetry, creations, artwork, or storytelling that you’d like to contribute to our page? If so, please send us a message and we’ll happily share your work!
A video channel for African Canadian youth to dance, sing, share, and celebrate culture!
Share your duets and best dance moves! This channel is just for you, to contribute your most uplifting creations! Tag us or send us your original videos and we’ll share your work!
Social Media Guidelines
Let’s keep our social media channels safe, entertaining, and uplifting!
Here are a few recommendations on how you can make the most of the OVOV PowerUp! youth portal:
- Think before you post! Remember that your teachers, parents, and caseworkers may see your online posts.
- Do not show personal information like your name or addresses: keep it private!
- Promote positive interactions and opportunities—let’s use social media to feel good and inspire others!
- You can use social media to connect with other African Canadian youth with similar life experiences; it’s a great way to share and express your feelings and ideas.
- Be sure to have approval to communicate with others through social media. Please do not interact with family members or others who are not supposed to contact you.
- Remember, communication online may be considered legal documentation of interaction between youth, agencies, and families.
- Be specific about the social media accounts you are using, and what your goals are. Make sure to review each account’s privacy settings.
- Be aware, and report any inappropriate contact, cyber bullying, or suspicious behaviour. Do not respond to mean comments—you can easily block harassing comments, and let a trusted adult know.
Reference: childwelfare.gov
African Canadian Arts for Children and Young Adults
We are gathering a list of African Canadian authors and artists who are dedicated to creating fun, reflective, and empowering products and resources for children and young adults.
“I Want To Be” 
“Loving Me” and “Boy! I Am Loving Me” 
“A Likkle Cute’n in that Hat” and “Heights” 
“Sweet & Sour Honey” 
“What Are You Gonna Do With That Hair?” 
“I am Beautiful” by Simone DaCosta
“My Soca Birthday Party with Jollof Rice & Steel Pans” Want to learn more about ONE VISION ONE VOICE?
Click here to visit the background page.
Keishia is Program Manager of One Vision One Voice. Reach her at onevisiononevoice@oacas.org
Our Resources
What are the Race Equity Practices?
Click on the Practice to read its description
Commit to courageous leadership.
It is the responsibility of the organization’s Board, Executive Director / Chief Executive Officer and senior management team to set the direction, specify organizational expectations, and allocate resources, lead conversations on anti-Black racism, spearhead anti-racism organizational change efforts, and engage the organization in courageous conversations if racial disproportionality and disparities are to be identified and addressed.
Collect and analyze data to measure racial disproportionality and disparities
Through the use of data, child welfare agencies are able to assess the extent of racial disproportionality and disparities, identify the underlying causes, as well as measure progress toward improving service outcomes.
Evaluate programs and monitor performance.
Ongoing program evaluation and performance monitoring allows organizations to understand which programs, services, and practices are working, the impact they have on African Canadian children, youth and families, and where changes are needed to achieve desired outcomes.
Allocate appropriate and dedicated resources.
When procuring services (e.g., group homes, outside paid resources, and mental health beds), each agency should include an assessment of the service provider’s ability to reflect and appropriately serve African Canadian children and youth in care and their complex needs.
Engage African Canadian parents and communities.
Child welfare agencies must develop ways of engaging parents and community members not only in the short term, but also with the goal of developing and maintaining relationships over the long term.
Engage and educate mandated referrers.
As the first stage in the child welfare continuum, mandated referrers can contribute to the overrepresentation of African Canadians in the child welfare system. As such, it is important that child welfare agencies analyze referral data and provide critical feedback and additional training to referral organizations and professionals as needed.
Establish effective internal complaint mechanisms.
African Canadian families involved with the child welfare system need to be informed of the complaints mechanisms available to them. Further, these mechanisms should be assessed to determine how well they serve the needs of and address the issues raised.
Enhance human resource management.
Within child welfare agencies, there is a need to ensure that African Canadian staff, and indeed all staff, are able to raise concerns as needed and advocate for changes to better serve African Canadians without fear of reprisal.
Provide daily supervision, ongoing training, and supports for staff, volunteers and caregivers.
Ensure agency staff, volunteers, and caregivers are well-trained in anti-racism, with a focus on anti-Black racism, and that they receive daily supervision that supports the application of this knowledge to support better outcomes for African Canadian children, youth and families.
Establish collaborations and partnerships.
Ensure ongoing engagement of African Canadian parents and the local African Canadian community to support the work of the child welfare agency and the success of African Canadian children, youth and families.
Strengthen the ability of caregivers to support African Canadian children and youth.
Child welfare agencies can support positive outcomes for African Canadian children and youth in care by placing them with kin as the first option and African Canadian families as the second option, as well as by ensuring caregivers are well trained, supported, and able to support the development of a strong and positive racial identity and the maintenance of cultural connections.
