This book is about Aboriginal children and the need for fundamental changes in the design, management and delivery of child welfare services within Aboriginal communities in Canada and Australia. However, the effective implementation of those changes requires a journey well beyond the single issue of child welfare to the heart of the debate over self-government, self-determination and sovereignty in both national and international law. In September 2007 the United Nations adopted the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. It is hoped the Declaration will mark a new dawn in the often troubled relationship between indigenous peoples and international law. It represents the culmination of a number of important changes to some of the more problematic assumptions which have underpinned international law and which, for many years, have undermined State relations with indigenous peoples. International law continues to have serious limitations as a site for the successful decolonization of indigenous peoples. However, the last 60 years have seen a considerable weakening in the once exclusive state-centric foundations of international law, a corresponding willingness to afford greater legal recognition to the rights and interests of sub-state groups and growing recognition of the importance of protecting and supporting a wide range of diverse cultures and traditions. With the UN Declaration on Indigenous Peoples enshrining long overdue recognition of indigenous peoples as colonized peoples, these developments hold out enormous promise for indigenous peoples, vindicating their strong commitment to international law as the most appropriate forum in which to address the many complex problems facing their communities