Child Welfare System

One method that would avoid the influx of children coming into care would be to work with the families instead of completely removing the child from their homes, and, from their families. This is one of the arguments for why many believe the child welfare system is failing. There is a common generalization that social workers are people who take kids away from their homes arbitrarily. Arguably, in some cases, this could be so. Removing children from their homes, at any age, have psychological, emotional, and spiritual consequences to them (Hick & Stokes, p. 160). Thus, can lead to further social and economical consequences for them when they enter adulthood. There are a lot of factors to take into account when working with children and their

The collaborative effort of both the social worker and the family would prevent problems that cause children from coming into care, but, also protecting the well being of the child, and formulating meaningful solutions unique to their situations. In working along side families, we are able to address larger structural and systematic barriers and powers that should be held responsible for their (families and child) situation. Such as the overrepresentation of racialized and Aboriginal children in the system; systemic racism, poverty/ low income related situations; living on minimum wage. By taking a critical look at the structural and systemic barriers that lead to such situations, we can also see how societal views can influence the way in which the social worker makes decisions regarding whether or not to place the child in care or not. The definition and common ideology of what constitutes child maltreatment, is generally constructed around parent failing and thus, parent blaming (Hick & Stokes, p.161. This leads to a misconception of the parental role in a child’s life. If we submit to this generalization of parent failing, we neglect to take into account the

If we are able to prevent children entering the child care system, we are also preventing the problems that would cause children in the future from entering the system. As social workers, and in particular in this case, child welfare social workers, we should not neglect our responsibility in deconstructing systems of oppression that have led to the unfair treatment of children and their