Jennifer Hedges – författare

Assessment is everywhere in social work. Done well, assessment advances the social worker's understanding of clients’ contexts and creates pathways for supporting their lives. Done poorly, colonialism and power take over the story, sustaining marginalization, disempowerment, and damaging outcomes.This book considers the many ways assessment carries power, from the way information is reported, collected, and acted upon through to the clients’ interactions with adjacent systems and institutions. Authors in this volume tackle the troubled history of racist and Eurocentric assessment and engage critically with issues of colonialism, assumptions about the meaning of family, anti-Black racism, disability and neurodivergence, migration and citizenship, restorative justice and aging out of care. Focusing on pragmatic skills rooted in theory and connected to major social issues, this collection is an indispensable resource for social work students and practitioners learning to ground assessment in relational collaboration, reflexivity, and critical thinking.With contributions from: Dorothy Badry, Natalie Beltrano, Susan Burke, Victor Chikadzi, Peter Choate, Nancy Flatters, Jennifer Hedges, Leona Huntinghawk, Ashlee Homewood, Julie Mann-Johnson, Tammy Pearson, Desi Shebobman, Christina Tortorelli, Carol Wadeand Ajwang' Warria.

Confronting structural inequities in child welfare that have long harmed Indigenous children and familiesA decade after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action—five of which focused directly on the protection of children—and in the wake of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, systemic failures in Canada’s child welfare system persist. The passing of Bill C-92, which affirms Indigenous communities’ inherent right to self-governance in child and family services, marks a critical shift away from colonial frameworks that mandated the residential school system and the Sixties Scoop. Yet, despite this progress, Indigenous children remain vastly overrepresented in foster care and Indigenous communities face ongoing oversurveillance. With contributions from social work practitioners, researchers, program planners, and curriculum developers, Parity in Child Welfare shows how this crisis can be addressed head on by foregrounding Indigenous traditional knowledge and leadership practices.Beyond its contribution to the movement for equity in Indigenous child welfare, this collection also engages with the frontline challenges practitioners face every day. Contributors address widespread stress and burnout, gaps in professional training, the often-overlooked topic of death and grief in child welfare practice, and more. The eighth volume in the Voices of the Prairies series, Parity in Child Welfare offers a comprehensive and timely exploration of the most urgent issues in child welfare.