The idea of the book came as a result of teaching social policy courses at the University of Manitoba, Dalhousie University and Thompson Rivers University for more than ten years. Every time I taught the social policy course many students who entered my classroom shared with me that they find policy boring, and have limited knowledge on how policy impacts practice. Fortunately, after taking the course, most of my students were able to demonstrate a strong connection between social policy and practice and found a policy concern they are passionate to research and bring positive social change in their future practice.
The book is designed to inspire readers to engage with social policy on different levels of government (municipal, provincial or federal) and be able to recognize how social policy affects everyone who lives in Canada from the time when they are born until the day they die. The long term goal is to ensure that every human being who lives in Canada understands how the social policy works and why it is essential to be agents of change and be an active participant in the Canadian social policymaking.
The target audience for the book is social work and human service students who are taking introductory classes in Canadian social welfare. At the same time, the book is written in the language that allows every human being who currently live or plan to reside in Canada to become aware of how social policy can affect their lives. The book focuses on areas of social policies that are commonly selected by my former students as part of their major assignment: social policy concern paper. The description of the assignment is provided at the end of the textbook, so any instructor can use it and inspire their students to find the social policy concern they want to address in their future practice. Each chapter is written by Canadian scholars who are passionate in their fields of policy research, teaching and practice. It represents the overview of the social policy development in the selected area, highlights key concerns that affect Canadians across the lifespan and introduces case examples of policy concerns and what was done or needs to be done to respond to the concern using the lens of social work values found in CASW 2005 Code of Ethics. Readers are encouraged to think critically on what needs to be done to set things right and make social services more accessible, available, adequate, applicable, affordable, and other criteria from the “10+A words” social service delivery perspective for All Canadians.
The framework for the book incorporates four perspectives: lifespan, intersectionality, “10+A words” social service delivery, and CASW 2005 Code of Ethics social work values. The lifespan perspective allows looking on selected social policy areas and how social service delivery impacts children, adults and seniors in Canada. The intersectionality perspective recognizes that the multiplicity of identifies impacts the way social services are provided. The “10+A words” social service delivery perspective evaluates how selected services are applicable, available, accessible, adequate etc. for the Canadians with intersecting identities. The social work value perspective allows readers to recognize what can be done to make services affordable, accessible, available, etc. for all human beings who live in Canada.
Here is the list of chapters to be included in the textbook. If you have an idea for the chapter please let me know and I will contact the publisher to discuss the additional chapter. Each chapter should be maximum 20-25 standard APA size pages in Microsoft Word.
Introduction
Chapter 1: The Development of Social Policy Across Lifespan: Canadian Perspectives.
Chapter 2: Social Welfare and Wellness across Lifespan in Canada
Chapter 3: Income Security across Lifespan From Birth to Death
Chapter 4: Health Care across Lifespan in Canada
Chapter 5: Mental Health across Lifespan in Canada
Chapter 6: Disability across Lifespan in Canada
Chapter 7: Child to Elderly Care across Lifespan in Canada
Chapter 8: Education across Lifespan in Canada
Chapter 9: Criminal Justice across Lifespan in Canada
Chapter 10 Gender-specific services across Lifespan in Canada
Chapter 11: Newcomers in Canada and Social Policy across Lifespan
Chapter 12: Indigenous People in Canada and Social Policy across Lifespan
Conclusion
The list of social policy courses taught in Schools of Social Work in Canada:
Dr. Oleksandr (Sasha) Kondrashov 