The Contribution of Africentric Social Work in Child and Family Interventions in Canada

The 1988 Canadian Multiculturalism Act promotes equity and inclusion for all Canadians; however, people of African descent and/or those racialized as Black continue to experience systemic oppression and inequities that shape their lived realities. Responding meaningfully to these disparities requires collaborative social work approaches that move beyond Eurocentric models of care. This chapter argues for an Africentric social work approach grounded in African-centered ways of knowing, being, doing, and coexisting. Drawing on Sankofa, Ubuntu, Ma’at, and Kawaida as foundational pluriversal Africentric worldviews, the chapter reframes child and family social work as a communal practice rooted in relational responsibility, interdependence, and collective wellbeing. Reclaiming the village is presented as both a metaphorical and practical pathway for reimagining engagement with African-descended and Black-identifying children, families, and communities. Within this perspective, social workers are positioned not as external experts but as participants in the village who walk alongside families as responsible witnesses with a shared responsibility for care. Drawing on the authors’ lived, learned, and practice-based experiences as African diasporic and decolonial social work educators and practitioners, the chapter advances Africentric, equity-responsive, and strengths-based approaches grounded in communal ethics, ancestral wisdom, and spiritual interconnectedness while challenging dominant Eurocentric paradigms in child and family practice. The reflections invite tension, complexity, and critical examination of bias through three guiding questions: Who am I in the We? How do we come to know what we know? How do we teach and practice Africentric social work? Thematic discussions integrate Africentric social work and decolonial approaches within intercultural and pluralistic knowledge systems.