Reimagining Assessment in Social Work

“A much-needed critical, decolonial, and anti-oppressive lens to the practice of assessment in child welfare. This very clear and compelling text should be required reading for all social work practitioners who long to advance social justice enacted within child welfare and allied fields.”

“A great resource! This book is a very timely offering of rethinking social work assessments that are ethically responsible and culturally aligned with values of social and structural justice.”

“A groundbreaking and deeply reflective contribution to the field of social work practice in child welfare, Reimagining Assessment in Social Work serves as an essential guide for moving beyond bureaucratic compliance toward a practice rooted in social justice and genuine human connection. By centering assessment as a curiosity-driven partnership, the authors challenge policymakers, practitioners, and students alike to resist colonial harms and standardized surveillance in favour of ethically accountable, culturally grounded, social justice-oriented practice with children and families.”

“From a variety of perspectives, contributors interrogate this fraught area of practice – how and why are assessments made and which voices are overtly and covertly privileged in the process? This book destabilizes narrative assumptions and invites students and teachers of social work to grapple with questions vitally important if child welfare work is to develop its social justice aspirations.”

“This book expands the scope of assessment from safety and risk to encompass strengths and contextual supports identified through relational collaboration with families that promotes the resiliency of children, families, communities, and cultures. A timely and important book that challenges the reader to reconsider child welfare assessment from the perspective of the child and family.”

Peter Choate is a professor of social work at Mount Royal University, specializing in assessment practices, child and adolescent mental health, and simulation-based learning. He has been a leader in developing simulation methods for social work education, including interdisciplinary applications and child intervention scenarios with mock court proceedings.

Choate has been qualified as an expert witness in social work in over 150 legal proceedings, with subspecialties in parenting capacity (including risk, domestic violence, and addiction), fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), and cross-cultural evaluations. He served on the expert panel for the national study “Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder in Canada: Current Knowledge and Policy.”

Recognized as a leading Canadian author in parenting capacity assessments within the child welfare system, Choate’s research examines how systemic structures in child protection, justice, health, and addiction services reproduce biases and obstruct anti-oppressive and culturally responsive practices.

Christina Tortorelli is an associate professor and academic director for Social Work at Mount Royal University. Her expertise lies in child welfare practice, complex trauma, and child development and disabilities. She focuses on enhancing student learning through experiential pedagogies, high-impact teaching practices like simulation, and strong community connections. Tortorelli emphasizes collaboration and connection as critical components of social work practice, aiming to develop social workers ready for diverse and meaningful careers. Her work offers commentary on practice adaptations and policy adjustments, guiding social work educators.

Jennifer Hedges is an assistant professor at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Social Work Inner City Social Work Program. With extensive experience in the Ontario child welfare system, her research explores how transformative learning experiences prepare students for child welfare work and address systemic challenges. Hedges is committed to relational, critical, and feminist pedagogies, with current interests in moral courage and allyship in child welfare. She also researches curriculum and learning through reading and co-chairs the Prairie Child Welfare Consortium and the International Association of Schools of Social Work Research Committee.

Terri Pelton holds a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Regina and completed the Senior and Executive Management Development Program for the Alberta Public Service. Appointed Alberta’s Child and Youth Advocate in 2022, Pelton has over 30 years of experience in the social services sector. Her career began as a frontline child protection worker and supervisor, followed by work as an analyst for the Ministry of Children’s Services, where she became a strong advocate for systemic change based on her firsthand experiences with young people in government systems.

Dorothy Badry is a professor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary. Her primary research focuses on FASD, risks and vulnerabilities in child welfare systems, disability, FASD prevention from a women’s health lens, loss and grief, and suicide prevention. A disability scholar and child welfare research lead for the Canada FASD Research Network, her work examines early deaths of children, youth, and young adults with FASD involved in the child welfare system. Badry is also an adjunct professor at Curtin University, School of Medicine in Western Australia.

Natalie Beltrano is a social work educator, researcher, and clinician committed to dismantling oppressive systems through critical theory and praxis. With nearly two decades of experience in child welfare, her work examines how structural racism and classism influence risk assessments and service decisions. Beltrano’s doctoral research at the University of Windsor applies critical race feminist theory to explore anti-Black racism and classism in Canadian child welfare workers’ clinical decision-making. Her contributions include peer-reviewed publications, interdisciplinary teaching, and presentations focusing on critical, trauma-informed, and anti-colonial approaches. She has led and collaborated on community-based and SSHRC-funded projects addressing family violence, equity in child welfare, and systemic advocacy.

Susan Burke is an associate professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Northern British Columbia. A Métis woman, she is a proud member of Métis Nation BC and gratefully resides on the traditional territory of the Lheidli T’enneh people. Her career includes 20 years as a child welfare social worker, assessing and supporting kinship care families and developing a passion for keeping children with their families and communities. Her research interests include Indigenous child welfare, kinship care, and social work practice and education.

Victor Chikadzi is an accomplished social work professional with over 15 years of academic and leadership experience, recently returning to frontline practice in England. He holds a Bachelor of Social Work from the University of Fort Hare and earned an MA in Social Development and Social Policy from the University of the Witwatersrand as a Mandela Rhodes Scholar. His doctoral research at Wits focused on social entrepreneurship in the NGO sector. Chikadzi’s academic career includes roles as a lecturer and senior lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand, director of the School of Social Work at Midlands State University, and an associate professor at the University of Namibia.

Nancy Flatters was appointed to the Alberta Court of Justice in 1996, serving for 19 years in Calgary’s Family and Youth Court. Drawing on her background in family and civil law and extensive mediation experience, she worked to foster increased access to justice. She established the Calgary Family Court’s Judicial Dispute Resolution/Settlement Program and taught negotiation and client skills at the University of Calgary’s Law Faculty for 20 years. Since retiring, she continues to practice law and provide mediation and dispute resolution training. Flatters is dedicated to fostering creative and systemic access to justice and collaboration.

Leona Huntinghawk is originally from Rolling River First Nation, Manitoba, and is an adoptee of the Sixties Scoop. She holds a Bachelor of Social Work and a Master of Social Work from the University of Manitoba and is pursuing a PhD in Indigenous Studies, focusing her research on Indigenous fathers and child welfare. Huntinghawk is the internal reviewer at Peguis Child & Family Services in Manitoba, the first Indigenous child welfare agency in the province to enact its own child welfare legislation. She has over 24 years of experience in child protection, provides consulting services to CFS agencies, and has taught at Assiniboine College and the University of Manitoba.

Ashlee Homewood is a social work professional with over 17 years of experience in Calgary, Alberta. She holds a Bachelor of Social Work and a Master of Social Work from Memorial University of Newfoundland. Her career in child welfare includes leadership roles supporting child and adolescent mental health and Indigenous youth and families, with a recent focus on organizational change and enhanced practice support. Homewood is passionate about cultivating leadership and equipping future social workers as an instructor at Mount Royal University.

Julie Mann-Johnson is an associate director of Field Education and an associate professor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary. She has dedicated most of her 25-year career to various areas of child welfare practice, with a passion for feminist, anti-colonizing, and anti-racist practice, and ensuring meaningful kin connections for children and youth. Mann-Johnson is also interested in socializing new social workers, community partnerships, and social work education, and is completing doctoral studies in educational research with a specialization in adult learning.

Tammy Pearson brings extensive practical and professional experience in child welfare services in British Columbia. She is an associate professor and chair of the School of Social Work at the University of Northern British Columbia and a registered social worker in BC. With 20 years of teaching experience in child welfare, she previously held various roles within BC’s Ministry of Children and Family Development, beginning her career as a frontline child protection social worker. Later, as a senior practice analyst, she led child welfare practice audits.

Desi Shebobman is an Anishnabe (Ojibway) from Thunder Bay, Ontario, who has persevered through the Sixties Scoop. His 24-year social work career includes work in addictions, family violence, cultural support, and trauma therapy. He has created and delivers an eight-part trauma series explaining how trauma manifests in daily life, utilizing psychoeducation and ceremony for healing among Indigenous people and communities. He is in his third year of the Clinical Master of Social Work program at the University of Calgary, specializing in counselling.

Carol Wade is an assistant professor of Social Work at the University of Windsor, with over 25 years of experience in social work practice, education, and community engagement, including within the child welfare sector. She has developed and facilitated workshops for youth workers and social workers, focusing on centering Black youth well-being, family engagement, and self-reflexivity in practice.

Ajwang’ Warria is a registered social worker and an associate professor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary, and a research fellow at the University of Johannesburg. She holds a University of Calgary Research Excellence Chair and is a co-lead for Cities and Societies with the Institutes of Transdisciplinary Scholarship. Her research in Canada and sub-Saharan Africa focuses on violence, child and youth well-being, and transnational migration. She has published extensively and is a co-editor of “The Palgrave Handbook on Modern Slavery.”

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