Title:AN ANALYSIS OF THE CHILD WELFARE LEGISLATION IN BC

Subtitle:THE BEST INTEREST OF THE CHILD PRINCIPLE AND THE LEGISLATIVE EMPHASIS ON THE CHILD’S SAFETY

Recommendation 3: the Alberta Child, Youth and Family Enhancement Act (CYFEA), provides that the best interests of the child assessment requires decision makers to provide children who have been exposed to family violence any intervention service that “supports family members and prevents the need to remove the child from the custody of an abused family member.” This is a key framing of some of the programming needed to address family violence in the case of the child welfare system and is the approach that many Indigenous community-based family service organizations electively employ to keep families together. We recommend that similar language is included in the defnition of the best interests of the child principle that directs decision-makers to turn their mind to prevention-based supports in assessing the right of the child to be protected from harm.

A LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY AROUND A SOCIAL WORKER’S OBLIGATION TO IDENTIFY LESS DISRUPTIVE MEASURES

Recommendation 4: These examples indicate a need for there to be an explicit legal obligation on the Ministry to actively consider placing the child with extended family members or returning the child to the parent. The federal standard, as set out in Bill C-92, requires that a reassessment of available alternative placements is “conducted on an ongoing basis.”

A LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY AROUND A SOCIAL WORKER’S OBLIGATION TO IDENTIFY LESS DISRUPTIVE MEASURES

Recommendation 5: Recommends that Canadian legislation mimic the language of the US Indian Child Welfare Act, which requires evidence that social workers have made “active efforts” that “proved unsuccessful.

A LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY AROUND A SOCIAL WORKER’S OBLIGATION TO IDENTIFY LESS DISRUPTIVE MEASURES

Recommendation 6: There should also be a requirement that the Ministry respond to alternative proposals by parents, Nations, and community-based organizations that support the parent. The Yellowhead Institute recommends that the legislation include “affidavit evidence from the Indigenous group that there is no available placement.

Discrepancies in the delivery of child welfare services

INCONSISTENCIES IN SOCIAL WORKER PRACTICE STANDARDS

Recommendation 7: MCFD should collaborate with Indigenous peoples to create a formal plan for recruitment and retention of Indigenous MCFD staff, with clear principles, goals, milestones, and timelines.

Discrepancies in the delivery of child welfare services

INCONSISTENCIES IN SOCIAL WORKER PRACTICE STANDARDS

Recommendation 8: MCFD must review hiring and human resource policies to remove barriers for Indigenous applicants and make workplaces safe for Indigenous employees

Discrepancies in the delivery of child welfare services

INCONSISTENCIES IN SOCIAL WORKER PRACTICE STANDARDS

Recommendation 9: MCFD should consider the creation of specialized, equitably-resourced, Indigenous-specific teams as recommended by Jane Rousseau in Struggling toward Indigenous representation and service improvement within the BC Ministry of Children and Family Development

Discrepancies in the delivery of child welfare services

INCONSISTENCIES IN SOCIAL WORKER PRACTICE STANDARDS

Recommendation 10: MCFD must ensure that efforts are embedded at all organizational levels including by training supervisors, providing opportunities for Indigenous managers, and promoting the involvement of Indigenous employees in strategic planning and practice development

Discrepancies in the delivery of child welfare services

INCONSISTENCIES IN SOCIAL WORKER PRACTICE STANDARDS

Recommendation 11: MCFD should develop a mechanism for holding regional offices accountable to implement the necessary changes identified through quality assessments

Discrepancies in the delivery of child welfare services

Subtitle:SYSTEMIC RACISM

Recommendation 12: Project participants also expressed the need for training to cover the following topics: genderbased violence; Indigenous rights, identities, and cultures; the role of ongoing colonialism on intergenerational trauma; the potential for communities and families to provide more appropriate solutions to family healing; and the importance of culture and connection to the child’s well-being.