Talking about and confronting race is often difficult. Why is this the case for so many of us who are white, and what can we do about it, to address racism? For over 20 years, I have worked to understand racism within social work practice, and helped […]
Read more →Archive for the African Canadian Families Category
The African Canadian Child Welfare Provincial Advisory Council (PAC) is a group made up of African Canadian community members tasked with providing recommendations and advice to the board, executive leadership and staff of the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies (OACAS) on all child welfare matters affecting […]
Read more →On the fifth anniversary of Children and Youth in Care Day in Ontario, over one hundred youth and former youth in care and their workers travelled to Toronto City Hall to attend a “Youth Civics Day.” OACAS partnered with the Ontario Child Advocate to host the event, […]
Read more →Dear Colleagues, On April 12, 2018, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) released a report, Interrupted childhoods: Over-representation of Indigenous and Black children in Ontario child welfare. This report investigated the disproportionality and disparities experienced by Indigenous and Black people in child welfare, confirmed and validated the concerns […]
Read more →Read the latest Canadian research from the social work sector. This issue we’ve compiled a list ranging from research about mandated reporters and their experiences with the child welfare system to new research about the relationship between child protection contact and mental health outcomes among Canadian adults […]
Read more →What does anti-oppressive practice (AOP) mean in child welfare? The theory of anti-oppression helps examine the use and misuse of power at the individual, organizational, and systems levels so that families can receive child welfare services in an equitable way. It also recognizes that families can […]
Read more →When I first started working in child welfare it wasn’t uncommon to hear members of the sector say that “they don’t see colour,” or that they treat all families “the same,” despite the grave disparities pointing to the contrary. All these years later, that thought process […]
Read more →1. Problem: The Child, Youth and Family Services Act grants Children’s Aid Societies substantial power through legislation. Solution: Working from an anti-oppressive lens encourages child welfare professionals to be mindful of this power and to reflect on how this power can be shared with children, youth, and […]
Read more →When you have worked in child welfare there are some memories that stay with you. For me there is one that endures…an apprehension of two children that occurred suddenly and went late into the night. We called the foster parents, while the children clutched tightly to what […]
Read more →“Until all of us have made it, none of us have made it.” – Rosemary Brown (First Black Woman in Canada to be a Member of a Provincial Legislature) Taïna Mayberry, OACAS Youth Programs Coordinator, offers some personal reflections on Black History Month. What Celebrating Black History […]
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