Passion For Action In Child And Family Services

Introduction: Voices of Passion, Voices of Hope / Sharon McKay -- 1. Passion within the First nations School Work Profession / Dexter Kinequon -- 2. Passion, Action, Strength and Innovative Change: The Experience of the Saskatchewan Children's Advocate's Office in Establishing Rights-based "Children and Youth First" Principles / Marvin M. Bernstein and Roxane A. Schury -- 3. From Longing to Belonging: Attachment Theory, Connectedness, and Indigenous Children in canada / Jeannine Carriere and Cathy Richardson -- 4. Jumping through the Hoops: A Manitoba Study Examining Experiences and Reflections of Aboriginal Mothers Involved in Child Welfare in Manitoba / Marlyn Bennett -- 5. Rehearsing with Reality: Exploring Health Issues with Aboriginal Youth Through Drama / Linda Goulet, Jo-Ann Episkenew, Warren Linds and Karen Arnason -- 7. The Moving Forward Project: Working with Refugee Children, Youth and Their Families / Judy White et al. -- 8. Passion for Those Who care: What Foster Carers Need / Rob Twigg -- 9. Children with FASD involved with the Manitoba Child Welfare System: The Need for Passionate Action / Don Fuchs, Linda Burnside, Shelagh Marchenski and Andria Mudry -- 10. Physical Punishment in Childhood: A Human Rights and cxhild Protection Issue / Ailsa M. Watkinson -- 11. Complex Poverty and Home-grown Solutions in Two Prairie cities / Jim Silver [Winnipeg and Saskatoon].

Imagining Child Welfare in the Spirit of Reconciliation is a most crucial look at child welfare practices in Canada, social work as a tool for advocacy, and the need to address the historical legacy of the Sixties Scoop.

In the child welfare system some youth do well in their lives, but far too many do not experience positive outcomes by the time they are leaving government services. The youth often feel marginalized and that they were not involved in decisions about their own lives, leaving them with a sense of hopelessness and helplessness. This book focuses on high-risk youth - whose struggles include neglect and abuse, alcohol and drug abuse, the risk of being exploited, mental health issues, and the inability to self-regulate and trust - a population of youth that government child welfare services and community agencies struggle to serve adequately. The focus has traditionally been on punishment-consequence interventions and demanding compliance, but experience and research shows they can be better served through relationship-based practice incorporating harm reduction principles, resiliency and strength-based approaches, community collaboration, and an understanding that these youth typically come from experiences of early trauma impacting their brain development and their ability to form attachments. This book provides an overview of the Get Connected practice framework and philosophy, and provides strategies for engaging and working with the most disconnected, challenging, and troubled youth in society.

People, Politics, and Child Welfare in British Columbia traces the evolution of policies and programs intended to protect children in BC from neglect and abuse. Analyzing this evolution reveals that child protection policy and practice has reflected the priorities of politicians and public servants in power. With few exceptions, efforts to establish effective programs have focused on structural arrangements, staffing responsibilities, and rules to regulate the practice of child welfare workers. Contributors to this book conclude that these attempts have been unsuccessful thus far because they have failed to address the impact of poverty on clients. The need to respect the cultural traditions and values of First Nations clients has also been ignored. Effective services require recognizing and remedying poverty's impact, establishing community control over services, and developing a radically different approach to the day-to-day practice of child welfare workers. People, Politics, and Child Welfare in British Columbia provides a crucial assessment of the state of child welfare in the province. Practitioners, scholars, and students in social work, child and youth care, education, and other human-service professions will find this book particularly important.

Based on papers presented at the Prairie Child Welfare Consortium's fifth biennial symposium, Awakening the Spirit, held in Winnipeg, Man., on Oct. 23-25, 2009. Book is the third joint publication of the Prairie Child Welfare Consortium and the Centre of Excellence for Child Welfare.

A significant contribution to the understanding of systemic racism in Canadian institutions, this collection of essays arising out of the unique Prairie context interrogates how professionals practicing in law, education, health, and other helping professions engage with issues of race and culture. This book examines the challenges and resistance found within professional groups working with Aboriginal and racial minority peoples. For teachers, social workers, healthcare providers, and professors, the greatest barriers to working across difference may be themselves and their assumptions about what the nature of the "problem" of difference is considered to be. The authors in this volume advocate, question, and critique the uses of what are often considered to be binaries of race and/or culture. They offer examples from professional fields that illustrate the complexity of teaching that finds problems in a culturalist approach as well as a critical orientation that is still found wanting. Will addressing inequality as a race, gender, class, or sexual orientation issue provide greater forward movement than focusing on cultural issues? The answers in this collection are never either/or and must look beyond theoretical orthodoxy for inspiration, if not new questions.

Trauma and the exposure to traumatic events is part of life, making the need for current and informed social work research and training in this area essential. Trauma, Spirituality, and Posttraumatic Growth in Clinical Social Work Practice highlights unique and diverse circumstances throughout a client’s lifecycle where trauma is experienced, how one’s spirituality is awakened or activated, and how this experience can intersect with interventions toward posttraumatic growth (PTG). More than just a primer on trauma effects, the book offers social workers insights into how to properly assess current resources and individual levels of distress. It also provides practical strategies on how spirituality and spiritual practices can be integrated into psychotherapeutic interventions at various levels of social work practice. Addressing the impact of trauma-related events and emphasizing the importance of spirituality, the book will inspire and provide transferable knowledge that social workers can use to meet the unique needs of the clients, families, and communities they serve.

Focusing on children who are subject to welfare intervention, Protecting Children addresses the challenges and issues of the child welfare system and provides foundational knowledge on the theoretical and practical aspects of the field. This edited collection begins with a review of key concepts, including child development, attachment, and resilience theories; social policies; family law; and ethics. Highlighting the translation of theory into practice, the contributors discuss current services and the search for best practice internationally, as well as explore Indigenous child welfare and offer conclusions and recommendations to promote positive outcomes for children and families involved in the system. Scholars, researchers, and practitioners from across the globe provide insight on a wide range of timely issues, such as the risk of reductionism, limits to predictability, pragmatic issues, as well as the disproportional presence in the care system of minority groups, including Indigenous children, children of new immigrants and refugees, children in LGBTQ communities, and children of the poor. This foundational volume is an important resource for courses in social work and child welfare. FEATURES - includes contributions from researchers, practitioners, and scholars from Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States - highlights Indigenous authors and personal stories of service users, and includes figures and tables throughout the text, as well as section introductions and conclusions to situate main theories and concepts for students