Dr. Tom Waldock

Dr. Waldock developed the Child and Family Studies program at Nipissing University; he is the founding faculty member and was the Chair of this Program from 2003 (inception) until 2014. Dr. Waldock teaches in the Social Justice stream of the Program, and has developed courses in the areas of children’s rights, marginalized children, child welfare (critical focus), and caregiving.

Recent research relates the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) to the child welfare field, with a specific focus on child welfare paradigms (‘child protection’ / ‘family service’) that are commonly employed to distinguish child welfare systems (‘Theorising Children’s Rights and Child Welfare,’ The International Journal of Children’s Rights 24 (2016): 304-329). Dr. Waldock’s focus on marginalized groups of children also has included historical reflections on the Home children, including a recent (2015) biographical chapter in the book Bleating of the Lambs – Canada’s British Home Children. Numerous other publications in social work and child/youth care journals have examined the connection between caregiver competency and the provision of quality care to marginalized children within the context of international obligations. As a faculty member in an applied/professional program, Dr. Waldock also has authored numerous legal case reports in the child welfare arena, focused on the status of caregiving and governmental liability for marginalized children in care. Dr. Waldock has been a frequent keynote speaker and panelist, and has done review work for the British Journal of Social Work, the University of Toronto Press, Relational Child and Youth Care Practice, and the Canadian Journal of Children’s Rights.​