Overrepresentation of Indigenous Children in Child Welfare Oppression is the use of power to ostracize, silence or otherwise degrade one social group or category, often in order to further empower the oppressor. Then what is anti-oppression? Anti-oppression (AOP) is a network that seeks to recognize the oppressions that exist in our society and make gains to minimize and eliminate its affects, moving towards equalizing the power imbalance in our communities. Healy (2014) states “anti-oppressive practice is a critical social work approach that draws on critical social science theories and is informed by humanistic and social justice values, taking account of the experiences and views of oppressed people” (pg. 192). Anti-oppressive practice
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I pride myself on my ability to challenge structures that perpetuate oppression while keeping myself in check by understanding the role I play and the power that comes with having the role of child protection worker. I understand without first identifying my own social location I will not be of benefit to making change. I am a strong, resilient Metis woman who identifies as a member of the LGBT community. With this being said, I also have the privilege of education, being able bodied and until recently did not understand this fully, but because of my appearance have colonial privilege that “operates on a taken-for-granted level in which the injustice is largely concealed in the day-to-day operations of social life” (Barnes, Carniol, Barnes, Kennedy-Kish & Sinclair, 2017, p. 30). Understanding this is one thing, but doing good work with my community is another. I connect with my community because I have not only experienced child welfare involvement but still suffer from the generational trauma caused by residential schools. I believe that I am able to hear my communities’ stories, assisting them by not only creating obtainable goals but gathering the supports within the system of …show more content…
I have privileges that provide me with more access to resources, therefore can maneuver my way through the systems with my community members. The theory and practice of anti-oppression resonates with me as it allows me to examine these issues while further developing my advocacy skills. When first reviewing the expectations of this paper, I was immediately drawn to AOP because of the many ways I saw myself as being oppressed through colonization, race, class, etc. I did not want to identify the privilege that I now see was bestowed upon me to do good things. I am a resilient Metis woman who will continue to support society in an anti-oppressive way to hopefully, in my generation, see positive change, with no more apologies needed to the Indigenous
I pride myself on my ability to challenge structures that perpetuate oppression while keeping myself in check by understanding the role I play and the power that comes with having the role of child protection worker. I understand without first identifying my own social location I will not be of benefit to making change. I am a strong, resilient Metis woman who identifies as a member of the LGBT community. With this being said, I also have the privilege of education, being able bodied and until recently did not understand this fully, but because of my appearance have colonial privilege that “operates on a taken-for-granted level in which the injustice is largely concealed in the day-to-day operations of social life” (Barnes, Carniol, Barnes, Kennedy-Kish & Sinclair, 2017, p. 30). Understanding this is one thing, but doing good work with my community is another. I connect with my community because I have not only experienced child welfare involvement but still suffer from the generational trauma caused by residential schools. I believe that I am able to hear my communities’ stories, assisting them by not only creating obtainable goals but gathering the supports within the system of …show more content…
I have privileges that provide me with more access to resources, therefore can maneuver my way through the systems with my community members. The theory and practice of anti-oppression resonates with me as it allows me to examine these issues while further developing my advocacy skills. When first reviewing the expectations of this paper, I was immediately drawn to AOP because of the many ways I saw myself as being oppressed through colonization, race, class, etc. I did not want to identify the privilege that I now see was bestowed upon me to do good things. I am a resilient Metis woman who will continue to support society in an anti-oppressive way to hopefully, in my generation, see positive change, with no more apologies needed to the Indigenous