Equity and anti-oppression in child welfare

We all have biases. While we may make an effort to be impartial, studies show that even people who believe that they are unbiased and support equity initiatives still show evidence of bias. Even though our biases may not be obvious to us, they have a profound impact on how we view, interact with, and treat others.

Our biases come from various sources, including our background, upbringing, experiences, identities, cultural environment, and representations in media. Our biases are also created and reinforced by ideologies, such as racist and sexist ideologies, as well as the inequities that we see in society. 

There are many types of bias, including:

• Affinity bias, which occurs when we view people we have something in common with more positively than those who are more different than us
• Attribution bias, which refers to the way that we try to find reasons for what happens to ourselves and others; when bad things happen to us, we attribute it to our circumstances, but when bad things happen to others, we attribute it to their character
• Confirmation bias, which is the tendency to put more emphasis on information that confirms our preexisting beliefs or hypotheses
• Stereotype bias, which refers to when we rely on stereotypes to understand and make decisions about people from various communities, backgrounds, and identities

Because there are many sources and types of bias that can influence our beliefs and behaviours, it is important to become aware of them as a first step towards lessening their impact and changing them, as discussed in the video below by the Royal Society in the UK (which works to promote excellence in science):

Because biases can impact our perceptions of certain groups of people and how we treat them, they can influence our work in child welfare and undermine our efforts to be fair and equitable. These biases may directly influence the assessment of safety and risk, and may alter our own threshold for intervention or apprehension.

For example, imagine that you are a white Christian woman working in child welfare. Because of affinity bias, you may assume that other white Christian women are good mothers who just need occasional supports, and may overlook signs of maltreatment when managing their cases. Because of Islamophobic bias and creed discrimination, you may also perceive Muslim women as inadequate mothers who pose a threat to Canadian values. Consequently, you may subject them to greater scrutiny, and take more intrusive and harmful actions such as involving the police when managing their cases. 

This biased treatment can lead to differential outcomes, with children from certain groups experiencing disproportionalities and disparities in the child welfare system.