Child,Youth, and Family Well-Being

3 credits · Undergraduate

This course provides an overview of perspectives, theories and frameworks that advance child and youth well-being. The course covers the provincial and Indigenous legislative arrangements and funding for child welfare services and agencies in Canada. The historical and political contexts are examined from an anti-colonial lens, situating how social workers provide care and control in progressive and oppressive ways. The impacts of medicalization, urbanization, modernization and colonization relative to age, gender, abilities, class, sexual orientation, and race are unpacked, as are the impacts of the overrepresentation of marginalized communities within the child welfare systems in Canada. The course examines the impacts of residential schools on Indigenous Peoples and the movement for Indigenous nations to resume jurisdictional control of child welfare. Students learn theoretical concepts and practice approaches to build a collaborative framework for advancing child and youth well-being.