[Regina]

My BIL graduated from Social Work many years ago thinking he could save these people or make a difference. Being a new grad he took a job on one of the nasty reserves in NW Ontario. He witness the most vile and disgusting things including death while there. So much of it, that he quit the profession for 15 years and worked construction type work in BC while taking courses for his masters as well. About 4 years ago he thought he could get back into it and took a job on a reserve in BC. This time he lasted 3 years and although there wasn't as much death, rape and drunkenness were the order of the day.
He's now operating heavy equipment and I doubt he'll ever go back to that profession.

[wildrosegirl]

It's pretty amazing that he survived 18 years. I had looked into the profession when I was young and after spending a few hours with a lady who had been in it for 7 years, decided I was too little to go to jail. I couldn't have dealt with no only the brutality, but the politics that so often prohibit justice from being served, and kids falling through the cracks while in plain sight.

My little cousin just entered the field and I worry about the kid. She's a tough gal, but a heart can only take so much.

[BartSimpson]

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

If you think it is them, gentically, I suppose that makes you racist, by definition.

Or you could simply be a geneticist who's mapped the FN genome and is stating the facts as they are.

[andyt]

wildrosegirl wildrosegirl:

It's pretty amazing that he survived 18 years. I had looked into the profession when I was young and after spending a few hours with a lady who had been in it for 7 years, decided I was too little to go to jail. I couldn't have dealt with no only the brutality, but the politics that so often prohibit justice from being served, and kids falling through the cracks while in plain sight.

My little cousin just entered the field and I worry about the kid. She's a tough gal, but a heart can only take so much.

Of course they burn out. They are given overloaded case loads with no real resources to effect meaningful change. It's all about putting band-aids on. And many who survive buy into the bullshit that change is just telling somebody to do it differently. So they have "parenting programs" for parents who severely abuse or neglect their children. Short term programs where they just tell the parents "don't abuse or neglect your children, here's how to parent them properly" These are mostly parents who were also severely abused/neglected as children, change just doesn't happen for them because they are told to do it differently. So they cycle thru program after program, the kids are removed to foster care and then put back in the home, over and over.

Social workers can really only be as effective as society is willing to let them be. We're not very willing.

[andyt]

BartSimpson BartSimpson:

Zipperfish Zipperfish:

If you think it is them, gentically, I suppose that makes you racist, by definition.

Or you could simply be a geneticist who's mapped the FN genome and is stating the facts as they are.

Really? You think the FN genome has been mapped and they've isolated the crime gene? Funny we haven't heard of that.

Maybe this geneticist has determined how the environment affects gene expression?

[andyt]

$1:

The “trauma theory” has been the main explanation adopted by researchers for the high rates of Aboriginal victimization. The theory posits that the relatively recent victimization of Aboriginal peoples has occurred not only to Aboriginal people as individuals but to Aboriginal people as a society, as a result of the colonization process which saw communities losing control over family and culture. It is the preferred theory in many studies examining family violence in Aboriginal communities, but it can easily be applied to a broader theory of Aboriginal victimization (Ursel 2001). Its effects are often explained as the root causes of social disorder in Aboriginal societies where alcohol, suicide, abuse, and victims of violence are symptoms of this underlying traumatization.

The impacts of forced removal of children from their families and communities and the abuse many endured in residential schools have been passed down generationally. Ontario Assistant Crown Attorney Rupert Ross (in Brant Castellano et al. 2008) describes how the residential school experience “set in motion an intergenerational transfer of trauma that continues to cause significant downstream damage to Aboriginal families, their children, and their grandchildren.” Survivors of residential schools and their descendents alike report difficulty forming trusting relationships with their spouses and family members. Children growing up without such trusting relationships often develop an inability to respond to stress without resorting to external stimuli such as destructive addictions (Chansonneuve 2007).

Many studies highlight that acts of violence are often committed by individuals for whom violence has become normalized, having themselves been victimized, particularly in childhood (Jacobs and Gill 2002; Rojas and Gretton 2007; Van der Woerd et al. 2006). Increased victim support services may be a step towards breaking the cycle of violence. Levan (2003) describes significant gaps in the availability of victim services in the territories, particularly outside of urban centers, as well as the inadequate supports for volunteers and paid staff working in the few existing victim service organizations. There have been improvements in services in the past several years in many parts of the country, particularly in the Yukon where there may be a possible link between the improvement in services and lower reported rates of spousal assault, sexual assault, and child abuse (Levan 2003). However, many challenges remain in providing accessible and culturally relevant services for all Aboriginal people who have experienced victimization.

http://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/rp-pr/cj-j ... r3/p3.html

[Regina]

andyt andyt:

Of course they burn out. They are given overloaded case loads with no real resources to effect meaningful change. It's all about putting band-aids on. And many who survive buy into the bullshit that change is just telling somebody to do it differently. So they have "parenting programs" for parents who severely abuse or neglect their children. Short term programs where they just tell the parents "don't abuse or neglect your children, here's how to parent them properly" These are mostly parents who were also severely abused/neglected as children, change just doesn't happen for them because they are told to do it differently. So they cycle thru program after program, the kids are removed to foster care and then put back in the home, over and over.

Social workers can really only be as effective as society is willing to let them be. We're not very willing.

Oh? So now you're a social worker too.

[andyt]

$1:

The six-year-old Alberta girl who was nearly beaten to death on the Paul Band First Nation awoke on Christmas Day and asked for Santa Claus.

"She said Santa," elder Taz Bouchier said Friday. "It was her grandmother who heard that word. And she was encouraged to say it again and then she drifted back into her sleep."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/ ... -1.2884218


Breaks your heart.