This article from the Tyee is part 10 of a series which explains how the the Splatsin First Nations indigenous community in Canada "fought to gain control, and offer a new model of care for kids and families." The article tells the story of Sarah Thomas, whose sister went missing and who took on the care of her sister's children. "Sarah Thomas believes she wouldn’t have been able to keep her three nieces if she had called the Ministry of Children and Family Development when her sister went missing in February 2010."
Instead of contacting the provincial authority, therefore, Thomas was able to call her aunt, a member of the Splatsin of the Secwepemc Nation band council, who have had jurisdiction over their own child welfare services since 1980. Even with such jurisdiction, the provincial Ministry has been pushing back and it took a lot of fighting and effort for Thomas to get custody of her three nieces, which she eventually did.