"When families cannot access services, funding, or education to be able to support their child with a disability at home because they live on reserve and must also overcome many barriers like the impact of residential schools, trauma, access to transportation, poverty, and colonization their children end up in the child welfare system, often away from their culture and family. The history of injustice has resulted in a larger representation of Indigenous children with disabilities in care often due to lack of services in their home community. These children are invisible in the system limiting information that could help inform culturally safe services and supports (Ball, 2008; Leitch, 2007). As well, indigenous children, even those who remain in their home, often receive early childhood education from non-Indigenous professionals. Gerlach (2018) noted that perspectives on disability that inform current practice seldom take into account the impacts of colonization on the health and well-being of Indigenous families and children. She documented the profound impact of the related structural inequities and recommended decolonizing research methodologies."
