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Crisis in Care: Structural Poverty, Colonization and Child Apprehensions in Canada
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 April 2024
Abstract
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.
Résumé
Le système canadien de protection de l'enfance a été caractérisé comme étant en crise depuis plus d'une décennie. Le nombre d'enfants pris (et morts) en charge a augmenté de façon spectaculaire, mettant à rude épreuve un système surchargé. La raison principale pour laquelle la majorité des enfants sont retirés de leur foyer est la pauvreté de la famille. La majorité des enfants pris en charge sont autochtones. En tant que tel, le système est décrit comme la nouvelle version des pensionnats indiens. En utilisant le prisme de l'institutionnalisme historique, cette étude soutient que la situation actuelle reflète les hypothèses coloniale et néolibérale selon lesquelles certains parents sont incapables de prendre des décisions judicieuses en vertu de leur race ou leur situation socio-économique. Le système canadien de protection de l'enfant est à la fois un produit des, et contribue aux, institutions et politiques qui augmentent la pauvreté intergénérationnelle, un facteur déterminant du retrait des enfants de leur famille.
Keywords
- Type
- Research Article/Étude originale
- Information
- Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 57 , Issue 1 , March 2024 , pp. 174 - 194
- Copyright
- Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Canadian Political Science Association (l’Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique
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