Indigenous Children’s Rights: A Sociological Perspective on Boarding Schools and Transracial Adoption

Abstract

A sociological analysis of policies related to boarding schools and transracial adoption of indigenous children in Canada, the U.S.A., Australia and New Zealand, between the 1860s and the 1980s, demonstrates the similarity of the outcome of these programmes. While undertaken in the name of protection and/or acculturation, these policies and programmes resulted in trauma to the children, their families, and their cultures, as well as in abuses that were in violation of children’s rights as defined by international organizations, in particular the United Nations. Examination of the profound consequences of boarding schools and transracial adoption during this historical period can serve as a guide to humane, effective, and culturally sensitive child welfare policies.