When Services Are No Longer Voluntary: Exploring Child Protection Workers Experiences with Black Families and (in)Voluntary Services

Background and Purpose:

While the child welfare system has the power to make life-altering decisions for the families it encounters, very little is understood about how Black families understand and exercise their rights in child welfare, particularly when their involvement is voluntary. Moreover, in Ontario, Black parents — in particular Black mothers — have reported being unaware of their rights, not understanding how to navigate the child welfare system, living in constant fear of child welfare involvement, and feeling unduly surveilled by systems that frequently report to child welfare agencies. There is a lack of clarity in defining what constitutes “voluntary involvement” and which child welfare services are voluntary, and which are not. This lack of transparency has significant implications relating to how and/or if service recipients are providing informed consent to child welfare involvement. Amidst this lack of transparency between Black families and the child welfare system, this study investigates the following research questions: 1) what are workers’ experiences of Black families’ engaging with voluntary services? And 2) how does workers’ perceptions shape decision making practices as it relates to the voluntary services?

Methods: The empirical data of this study was collected as part of the Mapping Disparities for Black Families Project (MDBF). MDBF is a three-year research study aimed to better understand child protection workers’ experiences and decision-making processes for Black families navigating Ontario child welfare agencies. Using interpretative phenomenology, the objective of this research project is to map the practical ways in which anti-Black racism manifest across the child welfare continuum to address racial disparities for Black families. Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis engages the researcher in an analytical process where they are trying to gain an ‘insider perspective’ utilizing in-depth qualitative analysis. This study explored the experiences of child welfare professionals who participate in decision-making across the child welfare service continuum. This study analyzes fifty-nine in-depth semi-structured interviews and five focus groups comprised of 28 participants.

Results: Three main themes were identified: 1) (In)voluntary services and the absence of informed consent; 2) Workers’ documentation of “aggressive” Black families and mothers; and 3) Deconstructing emotions to effectively work with Black families. Results from this study reveal racial differences between Black and white families in child welfare practices related to consent and use of legal sanctions. Study findings also uncover a pattern of documenting and perceiving Black mothers as ‘aggressive’ in child welfare. Lastly, it was found that workers who effectively reframed perceived anger in interactions with Black families had greater engagement success.

Conclusion: Implications of this study highlight the fallacies of consent in child welfare and its role in reproducing inequities to Black families. The construction of Black mothers as ‘aggressive’ and the misrepresentation of the voluntary nature of service in child welfare, jointly operates to justify and deter resistance to state intervention in Black lives. Policy and practice recommendations are discussed.