Course

Child Welfare Social Work

Faculty
Applied Community Studies
Department
Social Work
Course code
SOWK 3233
Credits
3.00
Semester length
15 Weeks
Max class size
35
Method(s) of instruction
Lecture
Course designation
None
Industry designation
None
Typically offered
To be determined

Overview

Course description
This course provides an overview of the historical, social, philosophical, and political foundations of Canadian child welfare social work. Students will analyze child welfare systems from anti-oppressive, decolonizing, Indigenous, anti-racist, and feminist perspectives and consider the impact of factors such as class, disability, gender, and sexuality. British Columbia's current child welfare legislation, policy, and approaches will be examined and critiqued. Students will explore the knowledge and skills required to provide effective interventions to families, children and youth, and to apply common child-welfare assessment and planning tools.
Course content

• Historical, political, and ideological foundations of child welfare in Canada
• Colonization and the impacts of child welfare systems on Indigenous children, families, and communities
• Indigenous child welfare perspectives, legislation, and community-led approaches in British Columbia
• Anti-oppressive, decolonizing, anti-racist, feminist, and intersectional approaches to child welfare practice
• British Columbia child welfare legislation, policy, and service delivery systems
• Child abuse, neglect, trauma, and their impacts on children, youth, and families
• Strengths-based culturally grounded family-centred, and community-based practice approaches
• Assessment, decision-making, and service planning in child protection contexts
• Child welfare practice with diverse families, including Black, immigrant, and refugee communities
• Interdisciplinary collaboration, court processes, and future directions in child welfare practice

Learning activities

In this course, students engage in a variety of learning activities such as lecture, discussion, group work, case studies, and presentations.

Means of assessment

Assessment will be based on course objectives and will be in accordance with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy. Instructors may use a student’s record of attendance and/or level of active participation in a course as part of the student’s graded performance. Where this occurs, expectations and grade calculations regarding class attendance and participation will be clearly defined in the Instructor Course Outline. This is a letter-graded course.

Typical means of assessment include the following:

  • Written papers
  • Creative works
  • Presentations
  • Projects
  • Exams
  • Participation
  • Attendance

 

Learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

  1. Identify major historical, ideological, legal, and professional themes that inform child welfare policy and practice in Canada, including the disproportionate impact on Indigenous people;
  2. Critique child welfare systems using anti-oppressive, decolonizing, Indigenous, anti-racist, and feminist perspectives and concepts of class, disability, gender, and sexuality;
  3. Describe core elements of the current child welfare system in British Columbia, including legislation, policies, and practice approaches;
  4. Discuss community-led, federal, and provincial child welfare policies and systems relating to Indigenous people;
  5. Identify different forms of abuse, neglect, and trauma and their indicators and impacts;
  6. Describe ways to assess and support children, youth, and families, including strengths-based and culturally grounded approaches;
  7. Apply assessment and planning tools in a child welfare context;
  8. Analyze their personal values and beliefs in relation to child welfare work.
Textbook materials

Textbooks and materials are to be purchased by students. A list of required textbooks and materials is provided for students at the beginning of the semester.            

Requisites

Prerequisites

SOWK 2333

Corequisites

None

Equivalencies

None

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

(Current)

Course Transfers to Other Institutions

Below are current transfer agreements from Douglas College to other institutions for the current course guidelines only. For a full list of transfer details and archived courses, please see the BC Transfer Guide.

Institution Transfer details for SOWK 3233
Simon Fraser University (SFU) No credit

Course Offerings

There are no course offerings this semester.