TY - JOUR
T1 - Crisis in Care
T2 - Structural Poverty, Colonization and Child Apprehensions in Canada
AU - Stefanick, Lorna
AU - Tait, Myra
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), 2024.
PY - 2024/3/4
Y1 - 2024/3/4
N2 - The Canadian child welfare system has been characterized as being in crisis for over a decade; the number of children in care (and dying in care) has increased dramatically, straining an overburdened system. Physical or sexual abuse is not the reason most children are removed from their homes; rather, the state deems them lacking the necessities of life, usually because their family is impoverished. Because the majority of children in care are Indigenous, the child welfare system is described as the new version of residential schools. Using the lens of historical institutionalism, this study argues that the current child welfare system reflects colonial and neoliberal assumptions that some parents are incapable of sound decision making by virtue of their race or socio-economic situation. Canada’s child welfare system is both a product and contributor to the institutions and policies that reinforce intergenerational poverty, a key determinant of removing children from their families.
AB - The Canadian child welfare system has been characterized as being in crisis for over a decade; the number of children in care (and dying in care) has increased dramatically, straining an overburdened system. Physical or sexual abuse is not the reason most children are removed from their homes; rather, the state deems them lacking the necessities of life, usually because their family is impoverished. Because the majority of children in care are Indigenous, the child welfare system is described as the new version of residential schools. Using the lens of historical institutionalism, this study argues that the current child welfare system reflects colonial and neoliberal assumptions that some parents are incapable of sound decision making by virtue of their race or socio-economic situation. Canada’s child welfare system is both a product and contributor to the institutions and policies that reinforce intergenerational poverty, a key determinant of removing children from their families.
KW - historical institutionalism
KW - Indian residential school
KW - Indigenous child welfare policy
KW - settler-colonialism
KW - structural poverty
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85190600386&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S0008423923000732
DO - 10.1017/S0008423923000732
M3 - Journal Article
AN - SCOPUS:85190600386
SN - 0008-4239
VL - 57
SP - 174
EP - 194
JO - Canadian Journal of Political Science
JF - Canadian Journal of Political Science
IS - 1
ER -