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Child Welfare System

1213 Words5 Pages

Considering the fact that indigenous, racialized and/or poor women and children are more likely to become involved with CAS, it is evident that the child welfare system is built upon biases and various stereotypes pertaining to parents involved within these communities. After analyzing the statistics based on children in care, this institution draws out an indirect message that constructs parents of the mentioned categories as inadequate or “unfit” guardians. After thoroughly understanding the different aspects that play a major role in these circumstances, it becomes obvious that these populations’ involvement within CAS is rooted in structural inequalities and injustices. Despite the fact, the child welfare system continues to operate based …show more content…

Maiter & Leslie(2014), state that 41% of visible minorities, compared to 38% of Non-Aboriginal, white children were investigated for child maltreatment. This tells us that there is a negative generalization about the parenting abilities of this population of people. Research depicts that the majority of visible minority reports are based on differences in discipling and child rearing methods from the normalized Western ideology of parenting (Ibid). As a result of a lack of multicultural understanding and acceptance within Canadian society today, this population not only deals with child welfare biases, but also reporting biases that stem from the general population itself. Thus, instead of reaffirming these oppressive dominant discourses, it is crucial that this institution begins to deconstruct and eliminate the structural inequalities that throw certain individuals in these unstable …show more content…

Immigrants make up 61% of low-income neighbourhoods, where they are mostly living in overcrowded or unaffordable housing (Ibid). Immigrants and racial minorities experience great difficulties with finding employment, settlement matters, financial issues, and mental and physical health problems. These concerns inevitably lead to increased stress on parents, straining the needs and well-being of children. It is not a coincidence that Ontario has the highest number of unaccompanied minors in Canada, considering there is a lack of subsidized daycares (Ibid). Canada enforces increased surveillance on immigrant families because of the emphasis on risk management rather than service needs (Ibid). By shifting the focus of this institution towards dealing with structural inequalities, such as the vulnerability of certain populations towards poverty, the child welfare system would no longer have such a disproportionate number of racialized or immigrant children in

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