Sixties Scoop

proper noun

The government practice of forcibly taking Aboriginal children away from their families to be brought up in foster care or adopted into white families, which occurred from the late 1950s until the 1980s.

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Meanings

proper nounthe Sixties Scoop
  1. CanadahistoricalThe government practice of forcibly taking Aboriginal children away from their families to be brought up in foster care or adopted into white families, which occurred from the late 1950s until the 1980s.

Origin

Coined in the research paper Native Children and the Child Welfare System by Patrick Johnston in 1983.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Sixties Scoop. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Sixties%20Scoop

MLA

“Sixties Scoop.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Sixties%20Scoop. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Sixties Scoop,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Sixties%20Scoop.

Source: Sixties Scoop on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.