Landy Anderson is a Senior Manager with several decades of experience in child welfare and social services. She has worked as a child protection worker, supervisor, and senior manager in several Children’s Aid Societies in Ontario for various departments, such as Community Services, Shelter & Transition Housing, Aboriginal Head Start, Youth Services, Intake, After Hours, Family Services, Placement, Kinship Services, Customary Care, Foster Care, and Adoption. Landy is a former Treatment Foster Parent and Licensed Group Home Operator. She has supervised staff-operated group homes and foster care departments for various child welfare agencies including Indigenous Children’s Aid Societies, known as Indigenous Child & Family Well-Being Agencies.

Landy Anderson is of mixed heritage of Chinese and Métis. Landy’s Chinese name translates as “beautiful jade” and her Indigenous spirit name translates as “one who brings the drum,” which means she brings balance. Landy is Wolf Clan. She walks in three cultural worlds, comfortable in all.

Landy’s husband has been a great support in sharing his experience with her as a child who survived Canada’s Sixties Scoop. He provides incredible insight into the lived experience of what it was like living as a foster child under the rippling effects of inter-generational trauma of residential schools. He offers powerful and practical knowledge that can only be derived from being an Indigenous child in care.

Landy and her husband were foster parents to over 100 teenagers spanning a decade, where some teenagers stayed for days and others well into adulthood.

Landy Anderson is a Child Care Worker with a Master of Education – Focusing on Urban Aboriginal Education and a Master of Social Work. Additionally, Landy teaches at Trent University in the Child and Youth Studies Department. She has published a book entitled The Foster Parent Survival Guide: How to Navigate the Child Welfare Matrix. Landy started a Duty to Report Campaign – A Call to Action, calling on the provincial government to legislate two Duty to Report recommendations from Katelynn Sampson’s inquest. This will help Ontarians understand how to report suspected child abuse and neglect to their local children’s aid society and prevent other children from dying. Landy is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Human Studies and Interdisciplinarity at Laurentian University.

Landy is a renowned public speaker with expertise as a post-secondary teacher, keynote speaker, and trainer. Students and training participants describe their experiences as “Fantastic, interactive presentation. Loved the jam board. Loved the info!”, “Landy is always an amazing advocate and speaks to historic and up-to-date issues”, “The session was put together really well”, “I loved the interactive components”, and “I really enjoyed how Landy incorporated the culture into our class and ensured everyone felt safe.” Landy has been invited to offer keynote speeches on issues related to children’s development, foster parenting, the school experiences of Indigenous children in care, Indigenous foster parent satisfaction and well-being, Indigenous child welfare, reconciliation, Chinese and Indigenous relationships, kindness, and the power of love.

To learn more about Landy’s speaking engagements, visit her website https://fosterparentsurvival.com/speaking-engagements/ or visit her YouTube cooking channel by searching Landy Anderson & Cookie’s Kitchen!