The new child and youth care vocational standards for all colleges in Ontario requires graduates to “demonstrate the ability to advocate for the rights of children, youth and their families and maintain an anti-oppression perspective and cultural competence in diverse cultural contexts”. What is anti-oppression? How does oppression impact young people in the social services sector? Is the social service system inherently oppressive? How can service providers be anti-oppressive?
Rebecca Ward, from the faculty of Child and Youth Work, at Confederation College, in Thunder Bay, Ontario and Wanda MacArthur a Manager of Children’s Services at the Children’s Aid Society of the District of Thunder Bay discuss these questions and provide several suggestions on anti-oppression in child and youth care practice.