Child Abuse: A Comparative Analysis of Survivor and Public Policy Discourse in Canada

• In Event: Poster Session

Abstract

Elsewhere it has been suggested that children who have experienced abuse discuss their needs and rights much differently than the retributive criminal justice system, which has been critiqued for its limited focus on children as objects needing protection (Gal, 2011). The presenter’s forthcoming research will explore the potential discrepancy between the discourse of individuals who have experienced abuse in childhood and Canadian public policy discourse. In this poster presentation, the author will explain the theoretical underpinnings of this work, articulating the differences between needs-rights and protective discourses and important questions this raises regarding varying understandings of how access to justice is understood and attained. The author explains her epistemological engagement, which intends to treat individuals who have experienced child abuse as experts of their own experiences. The presenter will also outline her mixed-methodological approach, which combines semi-structured interviews and comparative discourse and policy analyses and draws on needs-rights and protective discursive frameworks coupled with a gendered grounded theoretical approach. The significance and timeliness of this research will be framed in light of ongoing changes to the contemporary public policy response to child abuse and a nationally representative study on child abuse and mental disorders in Canada released in April 2014.

Author

• Alison Leigh Ackroyd (Boyes), University of Ottawa