Listening to Journeys: Transforming Child Welfare Through Refugee-Centered Training

Reflections from Nadia Drepaul

From my perspective as a co-facilitator of the National Outreach Project training, 2025 marked a significant milestone for CWICE. The funding from the Northpine Foundation allowed CWICE to expand training in person and for a greater number of participants. Through the National outreach project, CWICE has trained in four out of six provinces and the remaining two are scheduled for early 2026. This reach reflects not only geographic expansion, but deepening system impact—supporting child welfare leaders and frontline practitioners to integrate immigration and citizenship considerations into permanency planning, strengthen collaboration with settlement partners, and address long-standing policy and data gaps.

The national training spaces have fostered cross-provincial collaboration like never before, creating reciprocal opportunities for provinces to share strategies, reflect on practice, and learn from one another while collectively addressing systemic gaps. While in Alberta, a key learning emerged around the power of facilitated dialogue: creating space for practitioners to critically reflect on assumptions about refugee experiences led to deeper understanding, empathy, and a renewed commitment to incorporating pre-migration histories into assessment and planning. Capturing the voices of children and families has further strengthened partnerships with settlement organizations, revealed widespread opportunities to better support child welfare professionals, and opened new pathways to embed pre-migration stories into decision-making and data—helping systems more accurately identify and respond to the needs of their communities.

Reflections from Fatima Mukai

In December, I was privileged to provide our child welfare colleagues in Alberta with in-person learning sessions. As part of our National Outreach Project, thanks to the generous funding provided by the Northpine Foundation, CWICE continues to engage with provinces across Canada. During the training, there was a memorable, candid discussion about people’s journeys into Canada. A participant provided an example from their own caseload. In that situation, their client had previously enumerated the consequences for political dissidents in their country of origin. The child welfare professional remarked on the merit, feeling the client may have exaggerated facts to support their refugee claim, and they asked: “After all, what would be the worst thing that could happen to that family, should they return to their country of origin?”

What followed was a very rich discussion about the impact of political persecution on those being singled out because their views and political opinions dissent from the ruling powers. As the discussion went on, I noted discomfort among participants. It was then that another practitioner spoke from the heart, as she had first-hand experience of oppression in the same country. She spoke about the many ways dissidents and their families have their lives turned into a veritable nightmare. She shared about children being unable to enter educational institutions, parents who disappear overnight, and grandparents being unable to find jobs or receive their pensions, even after housing the grandchildren. It was an extraordinarily poignant moment in training. The room went quiet for a moment. My co-facilitator, and Manager, Nadia Drepaul, thanked the practitioner who was able, without rancor, to lead an important discussion about how Canada is a signatory of the 1951 Geneva Convention and the 1967 Protocol. We also thanked the participant who posed the original question, honoring this as a safe learning space.

My reflection traveling back to Ontario is that our training programs offer rich learning. Participants have countless opportunities to broaden their understanding about what it means to be a refugee and how this is particularly relevant for those receiving services from a child welfare agency. At CWICE, we understand that folks’ journeys to Canada may have been fraught with traumatic experiences. Assessments and long-term planning for children and youth who have a refugee experience should always include a deeper look into their pre-migration history. Their narratives may take time to gather, and a lot of trust on the part of our clients, but it can greatly benefit the service we offer children, youth, and their families. With greater understanding, we believe, comes better outcomes. With training, we know, comes better service. With excellent service comes better experiences for clients and professionals in our sector.

Nadia Drepaul Nadia Drepaul is the Manager of the Child Welfare Immigration Centre of Excellence (CWICE) at Peel Children’s Aid Society and the national lead for the CWICE National Outreach Project. With over 15 years in child welfare, she has extensive experience across intake, investigations, family services, and permanency. Nadia has contributed to system-level equity initiatives through the Ontario Child Welfare Secretariat and the Anti-Racism Directorate. At CWICE, she leads national capacity-building efforts to strengthen how child welfare professionals support immigrants, refugees, and immigration-involved families, and is recognized for her trauma-informed, culturally responsive approach that drives reflection, action, and systemic change.

Fatima Mukai Fatima Mukai is a Child Protection Worker and Immigration Specialist with CWICE. She joined Peel Children’s Aid Society in 2017, supporting children and families facing immigration and settlement challenges, and became an Immigration Specialist with CWICE in 2020. With over 22 years of experience working with vulnerable families, Fatima advances national equity and systemic change through her leadership in the CWICE National Outreach Project, helping child welfare professionals across Canada better serve immigrant and refugee communities.