Human Early Learning Partnership, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
BC Children's Hospital Research Institute, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
PLoS One. 2021 Jun 10;16(6):e0252993. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0252993. eCollection 2021.
Indigenous leaders are gravely concerned over disproportionate representation of Indigenous children in Canada's child welfare systems. Forced separation from children is deeply traumatizing for mothers and detrimental to the wellbeing of Indigenous families, communities and Nations. This study examined relationships between child apprehension and suicide attempt within a cohort of young Indigenous women impacted by substance use. We utilized data collected every 6 months (2008-2016) by the Cedar Project, an Indigenous-governed cohort study involving young Indigenous people who use drugs in British Columbia, Canada. Recent child apprehension was defined as having a child apprehended by the Ministry of Child and Family Development since last visit. Recurrent event Cox proportional hazards models estimated the independent effect of child apprehension on maternal suicide attempt. Among 293 participants, 78 (27%) reported 136 child apprehensions; incidence of first apprehension was 6.64 (95%CI: 5.25-8.29) per 100 person-years. Forty-seven (16%) participants reported 75 suicide attempts with an incidence of 4.00 (95%CI: 2.94-5.33) per 100 person-years. Participants who reported recent child apprehension (HR: 1.88, 95%CI: 1.00-3.55), had a parent attend residential school (HR: 4.12, 95%CI: 1.63-10.46), experienced recent sexual assault (HR: 4.04, 95%CI: 2.04-7.99), violence (HR: 2.54, 95%CI: 1.52-4.27) or overdose (HR: 4.97, 95%CI: 2.96-8.35) were more likely to attempt suicide. Participants who had a traditional language spoken in the home growing up were half as likely to attempt suicide (HR: 0.49, 95%CI: 0.23-1.01). Results suggest that child welfare systems in Canada perpetuate historical and intergenerational trauma among young Indigenous mothers. Indigenous self-determination over child welfare and culturally safe services are urgently needed to end cycles of child apprehension and support the wellbeing of families, communities and Nations.
土著领袖对加拿大儿童福利系统中土著儿童代表性过高表示严重关切。儿童与母亲被迫分离，这对母亲和土著家庭、社区和国家的福祉都造成了极大的创伤。本研究调查了在一个受药物影响的年轻土著妇女队列中，儿童被拘留与自杀企图之间的关系。我们利用 Cedar 项目收集的数据进行分析，该项目是一个由土著管理的队列研究，涉及在加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省使用药物的年轻土著人。最近的儿童拘留是指自上次访问以来，儿童已被儿童和家庭发展部拘留。复发事件 Cox 比例风险模型估计了儿童拘留对母亲自杀企图的独立影响。在 293 名参与者中，有 78 人（27%）报告了 136 次儿童拘留；首次拘留的发生率为每 100 人年 6.64（95%CI：5.25-8.29）。47 名（16%）参与者报告了 75 次自杀企图，发生率为每 100 人年 4.00（95%CI：2.94-5.33）。报告最近有儿童被拘留的参与者（HR：1.88，95%CI：1.00-3.55）、父母上过寄宿学校的参与者（HR：4.12，95%CI：1.63-10.46）、最近遭受性侵犯的参与者（HR：4.04，95%CI：2.04-7.99）、暴力（HR：2.54，95%CI：1.52-4.27）或过量用药（HR：4.97，95%CI：2.96-8.35）的参与者更有可能自杀。在成长过程中家中讲母语的参与者自杀的可能性减半（HR：0.49，95%CI：0.23-1.01）。结果表明，加拿大的儿童福利系统使年轻土著母亲持续遭受历史和代际创伤。迫切需要土著人对儿童福利的自决权和文化上安全的服务，以结束儿童拘留的循环，支持家庭、社区和国家的福祉。
