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Child Welfare Policy Essay

Decent Essays

For the last two decades, Ontario has encountered escalating degrees of neo-liberal economic impetus. Many of these reforms targeted social benefits, which led to marginalization of certain sections of the society (Dumbrill, 2006). Political views and interests of the dominant policy community predominantly influence policy making (Yee, 2005). The underrepresentation of marginalized sections of society in the Ontario child welfare policy calls for an anti-oppression approach to policy making and service delivery. This essay will discuss the context of the present problems in Ontario’s child welfare policies, with a particular emphasis on analyzing the effects of anti-oppression paradigm in dealing with the Ontario’s child welfare problems and service delivery. This essay is divided into three sections. The first section will articulate anti-oppression perspective and why it is crucial to child welfare. It will also examine the shifts in the Ontario’s child welfare policy. The second section will describe and analyze what an anti-oppression approach to the child welfare in Ontario will look like. …show more content…

Historically the policies have seen to be swinging back and forth between family preservation and child safety (Dumbrill, 2006). This pendulum is currently in a risk reduction and inspectorial position. The child welfare system has often been under the microscope of public eye for forcing dominant values on marginalized communities (Yee, 2005). As a result, the child welfare system has the capability to reinforce inequalities that the parents and children may already be experiencing. Additionally the practice of child welfare and social work predominantly adopts a top-down approach (Gray & Fook, 2004; Razack & Badwall, 2006). In order to respond to such systemic and structural inequalities, an anti-oppression approach to social welfare is

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