As toxic drug crisis persists, Youth in ‘care’ are especially vulnerable: ‘It’s just a horrific cycle’

published on April 26, 2024 by Amy Romer in IndigiNews

During her path to sobriety, Eva Takakenew has done a lot of thinking about her time in the child welfare system.

“I figured there was something wrong with me that my [birth] mom didn’t want me,” shared Takakenew, who is from Piyesiw-Awasis (Thunderchild First Nation).

“Why did she give me away? Didn’t she love me? And so I would always be thinking about that.”

Takakenew is 43, but when she smiles — which is often — she looks almost childlike. She wears an oversized hoodie, often with the hood up, and has a piercing through her right eyebrow.

As she speaks, it’s like she’s rushing to tell you everything all at once. The “mundane” (as she calls it) outside world unfolds too slowly for the ADHD she carries with her.

Takakenew is a social worker who works as a writer and, more recently, a photographer at Megaphone Magazine…