On January 1, 2018, Ontario’s child protection legislation was amended to extend child protection services to youth aged 16 and 17, a change that was long advocated for by OACAS and Ontario’s Children’s Aid Societies (CASs). An early analysis by OACAS and Children’s Aid Societies reinforced much
Read more →Every October, Children’s Aid Societies (CAS) join with key partners, including boards of education and schools, to raise awareness about the rights of children and youth to safety and well-being in all aspects of their lives, and that help is available for children, youth, and families. This
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Yacine Dottridge, Senior Program Analyst – Labour Relations, from OACAS explains the origins of the Worker Safety Project What is the Worker Safety Project all about? The Worker Safety Project is about making working conditions safer for Ontario’s child welfare professionals. When I say safer, I mean
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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,
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Hold a school assembly to raise awareness among students about the caring adults and community resources that are available to support them when they need help. Invite somebody from a community organization to talk about how they help children and youth. Use the Ontario Dress Purple Classroom Resources,
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
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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
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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
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