Accessibility of child protection investigations during pandemic: A qualitative analysis of court proceedings

Abstract

Background Qualitative research using published court records to examine contextual factors that contribute to child protection decisions in cases involving parents with intellectual disabilities is limited, particularly during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Method The present study conducted qualitative content analysis on 10 published Ontario court cases to study child protection decision‐making between 2019 and 2021. Results The findings corroborated previous literature with nine out of 10 cases resulting in loss of child custody. Four major themes emerged from content analysis: (1) Impact of COVID‐19 pandemic on cases; (2) Systemic barriers to accessibility; (3) Attitudes and bias toward parents with intellectual disabilities; and (4) Ultimate reliance on intellectual disability status for final custody decision. Conclusions Conducting content analysis on published court cases is useful in learning about accessibility barriers for parents with intellectual disabilities and may help in understanding the impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on the child protection system.