The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective

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The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective

We are committed to transforming systems of child welfare by speaking our truths! Informally, we began to talk, carefully at first.

The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective began as a core group of six White settlers with experiences of working in the child welfare system in Ontario, Canada. In 2019, we were teaching a child welfare course to undergraduate social work students. During discussions about how to best prepare students for the realities of child welfare work, we came to the realization that much of our own truth about doing this work had not been spoken. We also became acutely aware of a deep yearning to speak truth about our experiences. Over time, we found our way to more honest, uninhibited and non-performative dialogues. In particular, we spoke openly about the aspects of our work which we found deeply troubling. For many of us, there have been no spaces inside child welfare systems, or elsewhere, for these conversations. In the spring of 2020, we founded the Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective (CWTTC). We are unsettled by our work in systems of child welfare and the ways we have benefitted from this work, and, for some of us, our White and settler privileges. For those of us who identify as White settlers, our responsibilities are front of mind in light of the ‘Calls to Action’ which were issued by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in 2015. We are seeking greater consciousness about how, in creating and upholding child welfare’s structures, we are complicit in colonization.

09/14/2026

Holding Hope Together, Part 4 of 4

What helps you hold onto hope- and who helps you hold it?

09/07/2026

Imagining Something Different, Part 3 of 4

Where do you see possibilities for doing things differently in your own practice?

08/31/2026

The Science of Hope, Part 2 of 4

What helps you to continue to see possibilities for change when the systems around you feel difficult to change?

08/24/2026

Holding Hope, Part 1 of 4

What does hope look like in your work right now?

08/17/2026

Systems of child welfare preserve and perpetuate deeply colonial relations. This podcast introduces the work of The Child Welfare TRUTH-Telling Collective, a group of current and former child welfare workers based in Ontario who are searching for a way to reconciliation.

Take a listen at https://www.childwelfarecollective.org/podcast

08/10/2026

Allow us to re-introduce our CWTTC purpose and intentions.

To learn more about our vision and our work, as well as how to become involved, please visit us at https://www.childwelfarecollective.org/about-us

08/03/2026

"We believe that there is the will and courage amongst people who have child welfare experience to demand the changes that will lead to a system that is just and fair. We invite anyone whose everyday life, whether work, personal experiences or both, has been shaped, enriched, interrupted, altered, turned upside down, destroyed… etc. to enter into our dialogues."

Visit us at https://www.childwelfarecollective.org/get-involved to learn more about our storytelling project.

07/31/2026

Post #6 of our latest series, Confessions of a Disillusioned Child Welfare Worker, talks all about paperwork in child welfare: the time it takes away, the barriers it creates, and the harms it causes.

Check out the series at https://www.childwelfarecollective.org/blogs

07/27/2026

At CWTTC, we believe our language shapes the experiences of children, families, and workers in the child welfare system.

What do these words bring up for you?

07/24/2026

Another Friday, another Student Spotlight! ✨

Meet Emma, another student coming to the end of her placement with CWTTC. Keep an eye out for Emma's webinar in the fall capturing her reflections on practicing child welfare in the remote north.

Address

Toronto, ON

Website

http://childwelfarecollective.org/

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