Orange Shirt Day/ Every Child Matters

*Trigger warning: residential schools*

This month, Indigenous people across our continent are in mourning. Wounds from the past have resurfaced due to over 900 children’s graves being uncovered at residential schools in Canada. We at Alaska Children’s Trust firmly stand with Alaska Native people, and all Indigenous peoples, as they go through the pain and start the long healing process that will follow this and future discoveries – discoveries that were already known by Native communities but are finally receiving widespread press and criticism in the news.

The impacts of residential schools- some of which closed as recently as the 1990s- have cascaded into our work in child abuse and neglect. These schools, which existed in Canada and across the continental United States and Alaska, forcibly separated Indigenous children from their parents, banned the use of Indigenous languages, and alienated children from their culture. Survivors and family members have shared stories of child abuse, sexual abuse, and neglect Native children experienced while in residential schools. Many of those children, the ones who were lucky enough to find their way home to their families and home communities, came back with more than visible scars. The traumatic legacy of the residential school system lives on today. Within Alaska many Indigenous people were forcibly taken away and either sent to residential schools in state, or sent thousands of miles away to boarding schools on the East Coast. Members of a later generation were also impacted because their grandparents, parents, aunties and uncles who survived were never given the support required to heal.

One of the ways to help ensure that all children thrive is to learn from the past. We stand with Native people and believe that #EveryChildMatters . Stand with us by taking a pledge to educate yourself and your child on residential schools. No child is too young to start learning about this, as no child was too young to be forced to attend a residential school. Here is a  list to find an age-appropriate book to read with your child.

You can also learn more and help in the healing process just by listening. Lend your ear and your time to the stories of two Alaska Native men who attended residential school by listening to this Alaska Public Media story.

Together, by learning from the past, we can prevent child abuse and neglect.