Children's Aid Society Of Canada During The 19th Century

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Until the end of the 19th century, the ideological lens that structured society was punitive. Then, there became a shift towards a more social reform with a focus on rehabilitation and there was an increase of foster home and adoptions. In the early 1900s, the ideology of professional helping was new nonetheless, has shaped the multitude of helping professions that we have today. The helping and rehabilitating ideology was new, but human services workers such as social worker, parole offices and counsellor were beginning to emerge (Heinonen and Spearman, 2010, p. 30). The conservative ideology that emerged consisted of individual interest and responsibly, personal freedom, acceptance of unequal power and resources in society. Controversially, …show more content…

These changes in living led to an increase in stressors and began to emerge, this was evident within the further development of social classes. These changes in society led to the development of the Act for the Protection and Reformation of Neglected Children, or the Children’s Protection Act in 1888. Fittingly, there was an increase in awareness surrounding children’s need. Therefore, the province now how authority to remove children from home, if necessary. Social welfare driven organizations and legislation continued to be developed. Thus, in, 1891, the Children’s Aid Society of Toronto was established. Then, in 1893, the Act for the Prevention of Cruelty to and Better Protection of Children passed in Ontario. At this point, Children Aid Society became provincially mandated and there was more control. Finally, in 1912, 60 Children’s Aid Societies had been established across Ontario. Thus, this illustrates that the increase in awareness surrounding issues with children were developing and subsequently, policies were being constructed to allow for improved support …show more content…

After 1912, services began to strengthen what they offered by developing official roles, creating standards of practice and formal training. In 1914, the first school of social work opened at the University of Toronto. In the 1950’s there was an increase in provincial and federal funding that would help social services. Also, at this time, orphanages were beginning to fade and foster homes were becoming increasingly widespread. Thus, the shift came from the idea that when protecting children, a home-life environment was better than an institution (Heinonen and Spearman, 2010, p. 76). Moreover, between 1960 and 1970, there was the development of The Canadian Assistance Plan which provided funding to a wide range of social assistance further protecting children and the language surrounding child protection emerged to include child abuse and rescue. Additionally, there was an increase in the number of children accessing child welfare agencies and being placed in subsite care and there was the development of child abuse registers. Furthermore, this era marked the discovery of child sexual abuse and why children were not disclosing it (Heinonen and Spearman, 2010, p. 76-77). There was a rapid change going on within child welfare agencies and society was receptive to the changes that were occurring. Fortunately, more children were being protected and being

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