Major findings from the Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect 2018

Facilitating the Carceral Pipeline: Social Work’s Role in Funneling Newcomer Children From the Child Protection System to Jail and Deportation

“…While the stated objective of CPS is protecting children from abuse which places it within the welfare arm of the state, scholarship on its historical and current functioning reveals that CPS intervenes primarily in poor, racialized, and Indigenous women-led families precisely because of these identities rather than because of harmful parenting practices (Edwards, 2019; Fong, 2018; Phillips & Pon, 2018). In Ontario, 48% of families’ “verified child maltreatment” is due to the possible impact of children witnessing violence between parents (Fallon et al, 2015). This is the definition of blaming the victim as children are removed primarily from mothers for the “crime” of being abused.…”

“…This is the definition of blaming the victim as children are removed primarily from mothers for the “crime” of being abused. The next largest category of verified child maltreatment is neglect at 23% (Fallon et al, 2015). Neglect can be a serious form of abuse in which caregivers actively withhold necessities.…”

“…However, for the families involved with CPS, it is often due to a contracting social safety net that forces families to make impossible choices on how to spend insufficient money (Fong, 2017; Roberts, 2014b). This means that approximately three of four CPS interventions are because mothers experience IPV and/or because they are poor (Fallon et al, 2015). These are situations that would benefit from support from social workers but not via a punitive “investigation” process where the threat of potentially removing children from their families looms large.…”

“…While the potential harm caused by children witnessing IPV was not reported as a concern in Abdoul’s case, it is nevertheless a major factor for families, including families without permanent immigration status, becoming involved with CPS (Bergen, 2020a, 2016). For example in Ontario, 48% of families were reported for the potential harm caused to children who witness violence between their parents (Fallon et al, 2015). As we know from previous feminist work on this issue, the quest to have IPV and the negative impacts on children taken seriously has led to reforms that have ended up punishing marginalized mothers experiencing IPV rather than perpetrators of IPV (Carlton, Krane, Lapierre, Richardson, & Strega, 2013; Kim, 2018).…”

Adolescent males in out-of- home care: Past adversity and current functioning

“…Prevalence data for the province of Ontario (Canada) indicate that there were 7,730 children and adolescents living in out-of-home care in 2016 (Statistics Canada, 2016). Of Ontario child maltreatment investigations in 2013, about 3% resulted in out-of-home placements, with 2% to foster care, 1% to informal kinship care, and <1% to group homes or residential treatment (Fallon et al, 2015). The present study made use of a sample of 12- to 17-year-old males in out-of-home care in Ontario to better understand adverse childhood experiences and links with current functioning (e.g., socio-emotional, educational).…”