Author’s Note: This is not a cry for help, nor a request for attention or sympathy. It is a call for awareness, solidarity, and mutual support. The personal narrative included in this paper is intended to illuminate systemic patterns of institutional violence and neglect within Canada’s child welfare system and to stand in solidarity with others who have endured similar harms.
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The Canadian child welfare and family law systems, while officially tasked with the protection of vulnerable children, have long histories of enacting structural harm, especially against those already marginalized. While injury inflicted through physical or psychological abuse is itself egregious, an equally devastating form of violence occurs when survivors are denied the necessary care and justice they need to heal. The combination of inflicted trauma and systemic abandonment constitutes a pattern of state-sanctioned abuse that has left many foster care survivors with lifelong disabilities, both psychological and physical.
My personal survivor’s account illustrates the profound toll of such state violence. Subjected to solitary confinement, profound psychological abuse, physical restraint involving knees to the neck, and prolonged medical neglect in care and afterwards, left me alone in the world with complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD) and cervical spine trauma. Mine is not an isolated case. Studies have shown that youth in state care are disproportionately subjected to maltreatment while in custody. For example, the Ontario Child Advocate’s “You Are Not Alone” report (2012) documented patterns of solitary confinement, excessive use of force, and denial of healthcare in youth residential and correctional settings, often under the guise of behaviour management.
Further compounding the trauma is what Freyd (1996) terms institutional betrayal, when trusted institutions fail to prevent or respond supportively to abuse. Survivors of state care frequently encounter disbelief, procedural roadblocks, and retraumatization when seeking accountability or support. The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruling in First Nations Child and Family Caring Society et al. v. Attorney General of Canada (2016) found that Canada had discriminated against Indigenous children in care by knowingly underfunding services and failing to act on decades of evidence, a ruling that underscores the systemic nature of institutional neglect.
From a trauma-informed lens, repeated violations by systems meant to protect can lead to learned helplessness, dissociation, and a profound mistrust in authority (Herman, 1992). This psychological injury is often exacerbated when care and recognition are withheld, reinforcing feelings of worthlessness and abandonment. In such environments, the line between harm and healing becomes inverted, where state systems intended to protect instead entrench suffering.
In conclusion, the Canadian child welfare and family law systems must be recognized not only for their failure to protect but also for their active role in harming and then neglecting survivors. Public awareness, survivor advocacy, and systemic overhaul are critical.
As more survivors speak out, it becomes harder for institutions to obscure their complicity. True justice demands not only accountability but a radical reimagining of care rooted in dignity, safety, and healing.
References
Freyd, J. J. (1996). Betrayal trauma: The logic of forgetting childhood abuse. Harvard University Press.
Herman, J. L. (1992). Trauma and recovery: The aftermath of violence—from domestic abuse to political terror. Basic Books.
Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth. (2012). You Are Not Alone: The Journey from Custody to Community. https://www.ontario.ca/page/you-are-not-alone
Canadian Human Rights Tribunal. (2016). First Nations Child and Family Caring Society et al. v. Attorney General of Canada, 2016 CHRT 2.
Key Studies and Reports
Ontario Child Advocate. (2012). You Are Not Alone: The Journey from Custody to Community.
Documents widespread use of solitary confinement, excessive force, and denial of healthcare in Ontario youth custody and residential settings.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2015). Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future: Summary of the Final Report.
Details historical and ongoing abuses of Indigenous children in residential schools and child welfare, including state-sanctioned neglect and trauma.
Especially relevant for understanding intergenerational trauma and systemic continuity of abuse.
Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (2016). First Nations Child and Family Caring Society et al. v. Attorney General of Canada, 2016 CHRT 2.
Ruled that Canada discriminated against Indigenous children by knowingly underfunding child welfare services.
Evidence of long-standing neglect and institutional betrayal.
Nicholson, D., & Hurley, D. (2004). To Their Credit: Lessons Learned from Peer Researchers in Youth Corrections. Office of the Provincial Advocate for Children and Youth.
Youth with lived experience document human rights violations, including denial of education, improper restraint, and medical neglect.
Clarke, J. (2011). Youth in Custody and Solitary Confinement in Canada: A Review of Canadian Law and International Obligations. Canadian Journal of Human Rights, 1(1), 59–93.
Legal review showing that Canada's use of solitary confinement on youth contravenes international human rights law.
Kozloff, N., et al. (2016). The Health of Youth in the Child Welfare System: A Scoping Review. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 61(10), 660–669.
Comprehensive review of poor health outcomes among youth in care, including high rates of PTSD, injury, and chronic illness due to neglect and trauma.
Blackstock, C. (2009). The Occasional Evil of Angels: Learning from the Experiences of Aboriginal Peoples and Social Work. First Peoples Child & Family Review, 4(1), 28–37.
Examines how social work systems have become vehicles for racialized state violence and systemic abuse of Indigenous children.